One Eye Open
by Remmak
Summary: The people of the Citadel rely on the fine officers of C-Sec for protection and peace of mind, but how can they rely on a surly turian and a mild-mannered human? Follow a mismatched pair in this romantic crime drama. ME1
1. Chapter 1

**One Eye Open - Chapter One**

Ayuda sighed as he latched his standard issue pistol into the holster along the inside of his dirty locker. He inwardly cursed the events that lead up to his demotion and subsequent removal from his post in the turian fleet. For a turian, there was nothing worse than having a rank revoked, and that he had been foolish enough to find himself in such a position caused him to fume. Every one of his father's harsh words about responsibility, and separating private life from duty, played like a broken audio in his head. In order to teach him a lesson, his father thought it best to send him back to basics. As it turned out, 'back to basics' meant being transferred from active military service to common, civic duties, where he would remain until such a time as a satisfactory improvement in his disposition became evident.

The resulting reassignment to the lower dregs of C-Sec's standard patrols was proving to be not only an embarrassing social stigma, but a bore as well. To make matters worse, his partner was tight-lipped, even by turian standards, and it was becoming patently obvious to him that she was neither impressed nor pleased by his presence. In fact, she didn't even seem to notice him at all, and he was beginning to wonder if she was indeed human.

With her calm rational, adherence to Citadel policy, and general courtesy, she wasn't how he'd imagined the race from Earth. Not up close, anyway. He'd encountered her kind in public and other informal social situations before of course, but to work so closely with one on a day to day basis was outside of his experience, as well as his level of comfort. Still, there seemed a mutual respect, and given her quiet nature, that appeared to be all he could hope for.

_Well, that's just fine with me, _he thought to himself angrily. There was no point in making acquaintances with someone that he wouldn't be around for long. With luck, this pit-stop at C-Sec was just one of his father's stunts, and he'd be back to a suitably sized battle-cruiser within a couple months.

He quickly finished depositing his C-Sec equipment then activated the compartment's airlock. It slid into place with a soft hiss that echoed his moody thoughts.

While he clocked himself off duty at the division's terminal, his human counterpart filed in, chatting happily with a few other officers that tagged along behind her.

She was tall for a human female, with black hair, curled loosely in a way that lent it a perpetually wet appearance. Large brown eyes loomed over a narrow nose and thin, pale lips, all set in an ivory face. Though she was young, her forehead bore the small creases of someone who was used to having a lot on her mind, and she moved with the purpose of someone who was used to doing something about it. Not a remarkable woman, Ayuda thought, but not one to be easily dismissed either.

"I still can't believe an asari socialite invited you to a party as elite as an Upper Ward opera, Shanxi," one of the young men said.

The young woman shrugged as she slipped a holster off her shoulders, "I don't see why it's so surprising that an asari takes an interest in the arts, Jacoby."

"I don't think it's the arts she's interested in," he replied with a boyish grin.

Shanxi just laughed lightly and shook her head.

"You lot have very active imaginations."

"But you're going right?" another chimed in.

"Of course I am, it would be rude not to."

A chorus of exaggerated chortles and whoops filled the locker room, followed by many good-natured slaps on the back. Ayuda rolled his eyes at this ostentatious display of human camaraderie, but nonetheless, the short discussion had allowed him to glean a sliver of insight into his coworker's veiled personality, and the mention of a notable asari had his interest piqued. After the rowdy crew went on their way, Shanxi sat finishing some paperwork at a bench, and it gave him an opening.

"Asari socialite, is it?" he asked gruffly, feigning indifference by keeping his sight locked onto the computer terminal's glowing orange interface.

She looked up and eyed him with a blank expression for a moment, perhaps surprised, before her eyes danced with private mirth and her mouth curved into a small smile.

"My mother was once employed by Devaki Tenari. When my mother died, Devaki raised me herself," Shanxi explained, "She told me she citied her siari beliefs as an excuse to keep me from getting lost in the human foster system, but I think she pulled some strings. I owe her a lot."

Ayuda's artificially stoic face shifted in surprise. Devaki Tenari was a popular asari soprano, and it was said she had a voice so ethereal that it haunted the listener for the rest of their life. That such a talented asari and this nondescript human were somehow related seemed ludicrous to him.

"The guys don't know of course," Shanxi continued with a laugh, "But I figure their wild fantasies aren't really hurting anyone."

"Is she the one who gave you your name?"

"Devaki? I'm not really sure to be honest. My mother died when I was very young, but Devaki says it was given to remind me of my people's past and how much we have since accomplished."

The turian shifted where he stood. Such ridiculous patriotism was a waste as far as he was concerned. Still, it was a more practical approach than rehashing the past in a bar somewhere…

"Do you always speak so freely?" he asked bluntly. _When you bother to speak at all_, his mind added in irritation. He certainly hadn't expected his passive line of questioning to produce such intimate information.

The female officer shrugged as she closed her locker, either missing or ignoring his peevish tone.

"I suppose I didn't think it would really matter to you," she said plainly, "And besides, you _did_ ask."

She promptly gathered her things and stood.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to be late. See you tomorrow."

Ayuda hesitated in his response, but it didn't matter because he understood that the woman's abrupt departure meant she didn't expect, or want, an answer.

.oO--Oo.

When Shanxi arrived in the lobby of the Upper Ward Opera House, the glittering assembly gathered there took her breath away. High ranking members of the prominent races were there dressed in their very best, rubbing elbows and exhibiting the strict code of conduct that such a diverse gathering required. Anyone was welcome to attend the performances, of course, but after a few unpleasant incidences, certain House guidelines were put into place to help insure a harmonious atmosphere amongst the patrons. It was a haven of civilized society that almost made one forget the violence found outside the confines of the Citadel, and the political tension within.

She made her way down the shallow steps to the carpeted chamber, scanning the crowd to see if she could recognize anyone. After proceeding only a short distance, she bumped into a massive elcor, who lumbered around to face her.

"Enthusiastic welcome: Shanxi, it is good to see you well," the elcor droned in their trademark monotone, "Sincere request: Please, forgive me for being in your way."

"Not at all, Zatran," she replied, trying to be conscious of the courteous speech that the venue called for, "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, the fault is mine."

"Friendly forgiveness: No harm done. Your apology is not necessary."

"You are gracious as always, Zatran. There is much to be learned from your example."

"Appreciative observation: And from you, Shanxi. The life of a C-Sec agent isn't easy. We all sleep well thanks to you."

A flourish sounded through the hall suddenly, summoning everyone to their seats. Shanxi was always welcome to sit with the well-mannered elcor whenever he attended, for which she was grateful - it kept her from having to make awkward exchanges with strangers that she feared would reflect poorly not only on herself, but also on her asari guardian.

Once everyone was seated, the lights in the grand gallery dimmed, and an expectant hush fell over the colorful audience. It always unnerved her, those few moments before the curtain raised. Butterflies crept into her stomach in much the same way that danger made the hair on her neck stand up. Perhaps it was merely the awe induced by such a talented performer, or the presence of so many people gathered at one time, but the more Shanxi thought about it, the more she realized it was the feeling of insignificance that Devaki's nearly seven hundred years of life instilled in her.

Despite the fact that Devaki was virtually the only mother she'd known, and Shanxi loved her dearly, she was undeniably intimidated by the stately matron. The asari was wise, beautiful, intelligent, and poised in all situations. Shanxi could physically feel the effect of the odd, ineffable air that surrounded the woman; the sheer force of her presence. As a child it was comforting, like a favored toy or blanket, but as an adult, it was overwhelming. Shanxi found herself wondering how she could ever match that kind of standard.

The thoughts were driven out of her mind as the curtains ascended, pulled upward into voluminous folds of black. On the stage stood Devaki, in a pale lavender dress that perfectly complimented the slight violet undertone of her unblemished blue skin. A cold, bright light filtered down onto her, making her beauty all the more radiant, and the audience gave a collective sigh of adoration. The music began slowly, an Devaki swayed in time with it, her arms arcing gently, trailing her long ribbon-thin sleeves behind them. The music stopped, then, and the performer gave a dramatic pause.

Shanxi felt dizzy as Devaki's painted lips parted and, at the most absolute moment, the glorious sound of an army of angels escaped into the air around her. It was the heartbreaking sound of perfection, as if every voice in the cosmos sat under her tongue to be commanded at will. Her voice rose and fell with masterful precision, and the asari's flowing gown floated around her with a life of it's own, free of gravity, as if suspended in a great glass bubble. The ends of her sleeves whipped back and forth with intense emotion, pantomiming the greatest epics of the universe. Her expression took on a plethora of universal roles, no need to understand the song's elaborate, foreign speech was necessary. The ground moved for Devaki's voice, worlds turned.

All too soon, the show was over, and tidal wave of applause descended down the tiered rows of audience seating. Devaki bowed with preternatural grace, and a shower of flowers decked the stage around her. They were quickly gathered up by a troop of young asari under studies. The soprano waved to her fans in the most modest appreciation, with a beaming smile that stirred sensations of peace and hope in even the most hardened hearts.

"Amazed praise: Beautiful, simply stunning. I am convinced that no experience can match what I have just witnessed," Zatran raved happily, "Would that more had even a modicum of her talent."

Shanxi's heart became troubled again at the elcor's innocent words, even while she heartily agreed with him. She'd been to many of her mother's performances, but this one stood apart for some reason. As the performance's unearthly aura dissolved, Shanxi found the room to stand, and returned to the lobby where Devaki would now mingle with her patrons before they prepared to return home.


	2. Chapter 2

**One Eye Open - Chapter Two**

"I don't believe you," the voice on the intercom said incredulously, "An asari raising a human?"

Ayuda was in his dorm at the C-Sec barracks, still storming over his father's choice of punishment, and the urge to complain to someone had gotten the better of him. His plan backfired though, as the call to one of his former comrades was doing little to comfort him.

"That's what the girl said," Ayuda said tartly, "If you don't believe me, you can hack her files yourself."

The dark-colored turian displayed on the wall-mounted monitor shook his head.

"No way. The captain's pissed, and I don't want to end up like you."

"Like what? A cast off? A complete _pariah_?!" Ayuda roared angrily. His blood boiled while his taloned fingers dug dents into the desks brushed steel surface.

"You see? It's that attitude that got you where you are in the first place, Ayuda," the other turian continued, "Why don't you try to enjoy the downtime? There's plenty to do at the Citadel if work at C-Sec is slow."

"Damn it! I am not a civilian with frivolous interests! I'm a soldier, and I should be out there with you, not ticketing some poor sap for littering or noise violations!"

"You will be soon, but only if you learn to control your temper. Right now, you're just acting like a krogan."

The C-Sec officer growled before grabbing the digital clock off his desk. He violently hurled it at the screen, but the other end of the connection winked out before it made contact with the protective plexi-glass plate.

_Krogan! Hah! _He raged. Everything was wrong. His presence here was _wrong_, that girl was _wrong_, the friend who he thought he could rely on was _wrong_. It was a mess, and it made the wound on his leg hurt. The pain of it overshadowed what was left of his tantrum, and, with a sigh, he rubbed the mass of fresh scar tissue over his left thigh.

He was still convinced that the events two months earlier weren't his fault. It was misinformation to blame; his squad hadn't expected biotics to be present at the point of contact. Besides, it's not like he had escaped the doomed mission without paying a price of his own. Laying in the middle of a battlefield while his leg got crushed under an overturned terrain vehicle was an experience he'd never forget. It had left scars on his soul as well as his body, and he vowed he'd never allow himself to be rendered so helpless again. So foolish.

As he calmed down, he realized his friend was right. This wasn't an entirely bad situation, and even a C-Sec officer ranked high enough to have certain advantages; certain _insights_. Plus, while all the official channels had been blocked by his father, his private account was still active and accessible. Perhaps with two and two together, he could find someone willing to pass on some of the painkillers that were too tightly controlled for him to find in strictly turian space.

He turned back to his computer and keyed his log-in. The C-Sec intranet came up shortly, along with links to the public profiles of officers and blotter reports. Ayuda scanned past these to the secure link that housed a database of criminals and past arrests. The information there could provide a lead on where he could pick up his desired contraband.

.oO--Oo.

After the performance, the diverse group of attendees gathered once again in the entry of the opera house, where they then divided their attention into other interests. Some ordered drinks at the high-end bar, or debated in carefully controlled tones. Still others mingled randomly, or gossiped in tight circles. The star of the show made her rounds, making sure to greet everyone as was the custom. Her entourage of asari students entertained the guests as well, and it was some time before Devaki's rounds brought her to her the young woman waiting quietly by the doors.

"Shanxi…" Devaki greeted her daughter warmly. The beautiful woman glided over with her arms outstretched, and embraced her tightly. The human could feel the slight tingling in the back of her mind that the asari's close bond to her caused. After a moment, Devaki released her adopted daughter and placed a hand on the girl's cheek.

"Are you forgetting who you are?" the asari teased with a comforting smile, "You always hang along the wall as if a stranger."

Shanxi looked at her feet shyly.

"You were wonderful tonight," she said, "Zatran was particularly impressed."

A fountain of laughter bubbled up from the asari, the very sound of pealing bells.

"Zatran is delightful, is he not? One of my most loyal visitors," Devaki mused, "I am very pleased to see the two of you are getting along so well. He thinks very highly of the C-Sec organization, and for good reason."

With a sudden mischievous gleam in her eyes that belied her grand age, Devaki placed herself directly in front of her daughter and whispered.

"He's not the only one with an interest in C-Sec here this evening, either. I can't help but notice that a fine specimen of a turian has been eying you all night, dear-heart. Just over my right shoulder."

The asari's crystal blue eyes shifted to direct Shanxi's vision in the direction she had indicated. To the human's mild surprise, a pale-plated turian sat at the bar on the far side of the room, watching the pair covertly over his glass. How the asari had been alerted to him over such a distance in the crowded room was beyond her.

"Why is he here do you think?" Shanxi asked, "I thought turians didn't like these sort of things."

"Perhaps you should go over and ask him," the matron suggested with a secretive smile. Instant understanding dawned on the young woman.

When she was younger, Shanxi had resented her mothers attempts to turn her into a social butterfly, but with age, she understood it was merely her mother's way of guiding her into mutually beneficial relationships, and of introducing her to people that could aid or otherwise influence her future. However, it didn't make such encounters any less uncomfortable.

Shanxi looked over at the turian again, who was still sitting there quietly. His armored skin was oddly off-colored, and had an almost pearly sheen, like the inside of an oyster.

"His name is Carrick," the asari interjected, "And he's a partner at a company interested in supplying new armors for C-Sec. It is his belief that getting some feedback from officers would be of great help in developing improved equipment."

"You mean he wants to grill my knowledge of the current armor's capabilities so he can find what's missing and make millions," Shanxi translated.

Devaki inclined her head slightly and audibly cleared her throat. Though it might seem like an empty gesture to others, Shanxi understood it as a chastising warning.

"I'm sorry, mother," Shanxi said, "I'm just nervous."

"I know it's a lot to ask from you after a day of work," Devaki said gently, "But I wouldn't ask you to speak to him if I wasn't confident in you."

Shanxi nodded glumly, and her mother lifted her chin so that their eyes met.

"You are only one of my joys, Shanxi," the asari said lovingly, "But you are by far my greatest pride. Never doubt my faith in you."

The human smiled and nodded vigorously. Devaki hugged her daughter close and kissed the top of her curled head.

"Now, along with you," the matron said in encouragement once they had released, "You may make a friend, yet."

.oO--Oo.

Shanxi was exhausted by the time she got back to the barracks. The turian she'd met at the opera house had not only spoken with her about her C-Sec uniform, but a number of other topics as well. He was polite enough, definitely better company than the turian she worked with, but something about him still rubbed her the wrong way. He had seemed a little too friendly, but Shanxi reassured herself that Devaki was a better judge of character than she was and left it at that. She dug out her pass as she approached the clearance terminal.

"Shanxi!" a voiced called as she fed her pass into the slot on the side of the machine.

She took back her card and looked behind her. A tall, stern looking turian was walking straight up to her. A C-Sec officer could tell that hasty stride anywhere.

"Executor," she said with surprise and stiff attention.

"Shanxi," he replied with a nod, "I know it has taken us long time to assign a suitable replacement for your partner, longer that it should have as far as I'm concerned, so, I'd like to apologize for that."

Shanxi nearly did a double-take. The Executor didn't apologize to anyone, for anything, and certainly not to a human. If he was apologizing, it meant something else was afoot.

"More importantly, I want to explain that your current partner is here under unusual but serious circumstances. I'm sure he's going to do anything he can think of to make himself a pain in everyone's backside, and that you're going to be taking the brunt of it. However, I won't abide by any abuse or negligence on the part of my people on any level, understand?"

"Yes, sir," Shanxi replied firmly.

"I expect officer Ayuda to follow all field regulations to the letter and obey the codes of conduct outlined in the personnel charter. If he puts one pinky over those lines, I want it reported directly to me, are we clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"Now, I plan to put you back on a special assignment in the morning, so I want the both of you to report to dispatch for a debriefing first thing."

"First thing, sir."

"Dismissed," the turian finished.

After the Executor stalked off, Shanxi simply stood there, trying to process the discussion. It sounded like whatever the problem was, it was above her station, and probably of only turian concern. Still, she didn't like being put in the middle of it, especially after what she'd just gone through.

Her previous partner had been killed on duty during a group raid, and the experience made her realize her need to distance herself from her work. The two women hadn't been particularly close, but even so, the shock of her partner's abrupt passing and the realization that it could happen to anyone, at anytime, almost caused Shanxi to quit the force. _Almost. _It stood to reason then, that she didn't want much to do with the turian that had taken the woman's place, regardless of his temperamental nature.

_I still need to relay the Executor's instructions to him though_, she thought. Tired though she was, she decided to forgo a bath in order to inform the turian about the change of plans instead.

.oO--Oo.

Ayuda was already pleasantly numb by the time Shanxi reached his door. The injections he'd picked up in a shady end of the Wards had taken effect, and he'd been reclined happily with his eyes closed for the past hour or so, seeking solace in sensory depravation.

Now, the girl's voice through the com threatened to ruin his relaxation.

"Are you awake?"

A low, primal groan stirred deep in the turian's chest. The com button was on the far wall, where he couldn't reach it. His eyes shut even tighter, and he cringed inwardly at the thought of trying to get up.

"Hello?" the voice called.

After what seemed like an eternity, the door slid open to reveal a nervous looking Shanxi.

"Oh, good," she said as she straightened up, "You're still up. I just came by to tell you that I passed the Executor in the hall just now and he-"

She stopped mid-sentence and eyed the needle and small glass container on the table next to him. Ayuda kept still and silent as the woman walked over and read the label on the vial. He was surprised to see she had the nerve to look him in the eye.

"Do you have a prescription for this?" she asked bluntly.

"Of course I do," Ayuda lied crossly, "Are you always so nosey?"

She looked like she was going to form a retort, so Ayuda lifted the heat pad he had draped over his injured leg to help ease the pain. One look at the ugly mess of flesh made the girl's jaw drop, and she quickly returned the bottle to the table.

"I- I'm sorry," she apologized hastily, "I didn't know. If it still causes you so much pain, perhaps you shouldn't be back on duty yet."

"I'm fine," the turian declared, "I went to get it checked out earlier and some brainless trainee ran into me with a med-cart, so it's just a little aggravated today."

"I see. Well, I hope you feel better in the morning, because the Executor told me that we're going to be picking up a new assignment."

"Great," Ayuda mumbled sarcastically, "Is that all?'

"Yes," Shanxi said, "Sorry for bothering you."

Ayuda ignored her, and she walked out as quickly as she'd entered. The turian sighed in relief. _What an innocent idiot, _he thought. He reviewed the woman's behavior in his head, and a bit of a grin turned the corners of his mouth. This might not be so bad after all.


	3. Chapter 3

**One Eye Open - Chapter Three**

Bright and early the next morning, Ayuda arrived in debriefing to find both Shanxi and Executor Pallin were already waiting for him.

_This'll be good, _he cackled to himself morbidly.

"So glad you could deign to join us, Officer," Pallin mocked in affected speech as he entered the room, "Would you care for breakfast and a backrub? Perhaps a stroll around the Presidium to hear the morning gossip?!"

Shanxi stood stock still, eyes on the floor.

"Give me a break," Ayuda rebuffed, "I haven't spent my entire life in the Citadel. I got lost…"

"You're twenty minutes late and there are signs posted everywhere in this bureau!" the Executor reprimanded him, "Such gross tardiness shows disrespect for both myself and Officer Shanxi. _Do not _let it happen again!"

With a roll of his eyes, Ayuda fell in line next to the human and stood at attention. Pallin snorted through his narrow nostrils as he handed a file Shanxi and then roughly to Ayuda.

"There've been a number of disturbances recently at a secured docking bay on the central ring," he informed the pair, "The station manager has cited two break-ins, but nothing was taken, which leads us to believe that whatever these people are looking for, it's on one of the ships being held there."

"There were no attempts on the vessels?" Shanxi asked curiously.

"That's the best part. There _were _attempts to bypass the security on two of the ships, and of those, one was successful. Some tools dropped at the site suggest to us that they were interrupted during their second attempt."

"And still they took nothing?" the woman asked incredulously.

A perverse smile of pleasure spread across the Executors face.

"We don't think the poor fools know which ship contains whatever it is they want," he said smugly.

"Ho, ho," Shanxi laughed, "You can never get enough of stupid criminals can you?"

For once, the old turian was happy to share in an exchange with his subordinate. Law enforcement was an occupation that saw many strange things, and easy triumphs were few and far between. Cases of such laughable proportions as this were things to be relished.

"It does make one wonder," he replied with a rich chuckle.

"So, we'll be picking up whoever's up to this nonsense, sir?"

"That's correct. I'm sending some recruits with you as backup, but with the material we're dealing with I doubt you'll have cause to use them. Make sure you get wired before you go, and see if you can track down the ship's owners for questioning. While this looks like a hack job, we still don't know what these people want or why, so be alert. I want surveillance personnel in place in six hours."

"Yes, sir."

"Officer Shanxi, you're dismissed."

The woman left quietly to suit up, leaving the two turians to stare at each other coldly. With slow, deliberate movements, Executor Pallin moved towards Ayuda until he was a hairsbreadth from the younger turian's face. All traces of the previous moment's faint, light-hearted air had been erased. Ayuda could feel the warmth of the Executor's breath, and he narrowed his eyes defiantly.

"In my office, _now_," Pallin growled.

.oO--Oo.

Once he'd turned the corner into Executor Pallin's spacious office, a rough shove propelled Ayuda forward and sent a stab of pain through his leg.

"Sit down," his superior commanded.

Even though he was furious, the younger turian did as he was told. He knew he was in trouble, but for another turian to actually lay hands on him was something he hadn't expected. Not even his father had ever stepped over that boundary. He watched tensely as Pallin rounded the corner of his desk and sat.

The older turian put his elbows on his desk and glared at Ayuda in silence for several agonizing moments.

"You have no idea what you're dealing with do you?" Pallin asked finally.

Pallin's words and eyes hammered Ayuda. He slouched further into his chair. The subordinate officer's only response was an ill-tempered frown.

"Do you realize how much you've muddied your career in the last six months?" he continued bitterly, "Let us examine your _many_ short-comings for a moment, shall we?"

Pallin stood again and paced back and forth in front of the large glass window that overlooked the serene courtyards of the Presidium.

"You pick fights with your peers, only to have your father bail you out so that you can go on to botch a job defending one of our newest settlements. Your unit is massacred and you very nearly went with them- but instead of rejoicing at your second chance, you continue to spiral ever-downward. You don't show up for duty, and you defy your orders until your father finally becomes fed up with your failures and exiles you from his ship."

Pallin turned around and planted his fists firmly on his desk.

"You arrive at C-Sec."

The turian resumed his pacing.

"Stripped of your rank, privileges, and even your very social status, you still seek to create havoc. Now, what I can't help but ask myself is _why_?"

Pallin stopped mid-stride and eyed Ayuda.

"Why would you throw away all your training and experience? What do you hope to gain by making a fool of yourself as you are? Are you truly so undisciplined that you can't keep your mouth shut for more than five minutes or put your pride away to get a job done?"

"Every day, more and more humans arrive here at C-Sec, and elsewhere in our government agencies," Pallin lectured, "They gain a greater foothold with each passing moment, always eager to snatch up any opportunity. They're tenacious to a fault. Much like our Officer Shanxi…"

Suddenly, Ayuda wasn't sure where the discussion was going, and an uneasy feeling crept into the pit of his stomach. The Executor strode forward to his desk and punched a few keys on the computer there. A personnel file popped up onto the holographic screen, with a name drawn out in large orange letters.

Shanxi Renee Starling

"A failed biotic," Pallin said with an edge that Ayuda couldn't quite place, "By all accounts, she should have died while still a child, as the majority of them do. Instead, she clung stubbornly to life, and her efforts were rewarded when asari matron Devaki Tenari took her under wing in the wake of her biological mother's death. No father's name exists in any of her public or private records, it is believed her mother was fleeing an abusive relationship."

Ayuda sat in stunned silence, but the Executor was oblivious to his discomfort.

"Upon adulthood she enlisted at C-Sec Academy, where she graduated with flying colors. The powers-that-be wanted her to join the force right away, but she remained to receive specialty training. Two years later, she finally signed onto Citadel Security as a Class-A Infiltrator, double certified in electronics and decryption."

"Since then, she has been an exemplary officer with a half-dozen high-priority collars. She is twenty six years old and has already received two separate recruitment requests from the Alliance's special ops division. She is aptly, named, Officer Shanxi."

Pallin pressed another key and the profile faded from the screen.

"It's when I look at people like her and brats like you that I realize there's no justice in the universe," Pallin concluded, "You are content to waste what you've been given and be a stain upon the turian race, with no respect for yourself or anyone else, and it makes me _sick_."

"You better get your act together, and soon, because believe me when I say that this is your _last chance_, Ayuda. Your father won't step in to aid you anymore. You must make it here before you'll make it anywhere else."

"_Now get out_, boy. Shanxi will be geared up and ready to go by now."

.oO--Oo.

Shock was still taking it's toll on Ayuda as he walked to the locker room. A failed biotic? Surely not. His knowledge of humans was limited, of course, but she seemed a picture of health to him. The woman was tall, and leanly muscled. She had pale skin, yes, but it wasn't something that would make him overly concerned.

_She does have that nervous twitch_, a stubborn voice in his head offered.

As the turian followed that train of thought, it occurred to him that she might suffer from some kind of physical pain, or other condition that wasn't obvious to the eye. Some small measure of sympathy relaxed his tense posture. If that was the case, she would be in a situation not unlike his own.

But Pallin…the Executor was stepping out of bounds, rough handling him like that. It was none of that man's business why he'd come to C-Sec, as long as he met the requirements for service. He wasn't so naive as to believe what had happened to him would be a secret, of course; demotion was the worst thing possible for both himself and his father, but he hadn't thought it'd be thrown in his face so openly either.

He hated how Pallin hadn't even bothered to ask him his side of the story, and just went right along with whatever was written in his file. It wasn't his fault that the outpost had been lost. _It wasn't. _There was nothing anyone could have done. Not against the misinformation that had proved to be their downfall.

As if the whole episode in the Executor's office hadn't been enough, what he saw when he entered the locker room was just as jarring.

Shanxi _was_ ready, and the sight of her made his breath catch.

Gone was the black and navy uniform of a C-Sec officer that she normally wore. Now, she was armored in a sculpted hard suit that had been buffed to a dazzling shine. It's black and silver plates where accented with turquoise lining that ran from around her neck down her line of symmetry. An ID badge with her name and division number had been airbrushed over her left breast.

_A Class-A Infiltrator, _he thought, echoing Pallin's words.

Twin pistols were holstered on her hips, and a complicated belt with many small compartments hung around her narrow waist. She was sliding small metal spheres into the belt's tiny pockets when he entered. He stood in the doorway a moment, watching her.

Turians were armored at almost all times, even when away from their duties, so it was a surprise for him to see what a simple change of attire could do to change one's appearance and attitude. As he watched Shanxi equip herself, he saw none of the hesitation or self-consciousness that had peeked through during their earlier encounters. The impressive armor hugged every curve of her body perfectly, and with her obvious confidence in it, it almost seemed like a part of her.

"What?" she said suddenly, shattering his small reverie.

She was done dressing now, and eyed him with a look of curious concern. He tried to form a reply, but she laughed.

"That bad huh? Pallin can be a hard-ass, but he usually knows what he's talking about."

He realized with some amusement that she thought it was Pallin's private rant that was affecting him, and not her virtually overnight transformation into a highly-skilled operative.

"Or is your leg still hurting?" she continued.

"No, it's fine," he said finally, "Thank you."

Her brow crinkled even more at his reply, as if she was suspicious of being led into a trap, but then she shrugged.

"Well, hurry and get your things," she said, "I already put in a call to the station manager to send us a roster of the ships and their owners. I also had him get the names of the captains and pilots too, just in case this is an incident of the left hand not knowing what the right is up to."

_Very clever_, Ayuda thought as he retrieved his weapons.

It wasn't uncommon for hired crewmembers to smuggle illicit items aboard the ships they were working on, or for the captains of cargo ships and smaller private vessels to act outside of their benefactor's interests. People could be driven to some pretty stupid and risky ventures for the promise of a few extra credits, and since the Citadel was the largest existing spaceport in the galaxy, it was a prime property for that exact kind of crime.


	4. Chapter 4

**One Eye Open - Chapter Four**

"We've got until this afternoon to round up these people," Shanxi said as she scanned the list of names provided by the docking bay station manager, "I'd like to do it quickly so that we can get to the site and help surveillance set up without drawing too much attention. There are no vessels booked coming or going for the next two days, so it's a perfect window for our wise guys to take another run at their operation, and we have to get there first."

"You really enjoy your job don't you?" Ayuda said lazily. The turian leaned in the corner and seemed more concerned with counting the lights they passed on the way down the elevator than his partner's words. In reality, he was contemplating what'd he'd just heard from Executor Pallin.

_It's like when you're on the clock, you become a whole other person_, he thought.

Shanxi glanced up from her data pad with a bemused expression.

"Yeah, so?"

"So, if you're so stuck on your work then why haven't you done anything to advance your career?" Ayuda pressed, "I know Alliance ops has tried to recruit you."

Her mouth opened instantly, then shut again just as rapidly. She gripped the data pad close to her chest as if it would shield herself from scrutiny.

"I don't know how you got that information, but it's none of your business," she said quickly.

"Yes, you're right. I'm out of line," the turian said sweetly, "Forget I asked. You're obviously _very busy _today and I shouldn't bother you with such trivial personal matters…"

"I'm not talking to you," she said defiantly, "You're only trying to bait me."

"But you _are _talking to me."

"Do you want me to report you?"

"For talking?" Ayuda laughed, "As far as I know, that's allowed."

He pulled his weight off the wall and took a few paces towards her.

"Although, if I were ever to tell you that your ass looks irresistible in that hard suit, _then _you could feel free to have a field day at my expense."

The turian reveled in the villainous wave of pleasure that came over him at the look on Shanxi's face. A bevy of emotions from confusion , to anger, to embarrassment and disbelief cascaded in a rush over her delicate features. When it was over, she just glared at him purposefully.

"I've met people like you before," she said smartly, "You say and do stupid things just to get a reaction. Well, if that's the game you're intent on playing, than you can count me out."

"I'm here to get this job done, with or without you, so if all you want to do is make trouble, then you can take the next public transport back to the barracks."

_Aww_, Ayuda mused, _and you were doing so well there for awhile…_

Shanxi went back to reviewing her assignment objectives, and Ayuda went back to his corner. Even though he'd already managed to ruffle her feathers, he just couldn't stifle one more barbed remark.

"But you have to admit, that'd make for some_mighty odd _sensitivity training…"

"Shutup."

.oO--Oo.

"Executor Pallin," Devaki said in respectful greeting, "I wanted to thank you for taking the time to speak with me."

"I'm always glad to make time for you, Matron," the old turian replied, "But I do value the gift of brevity…"

The asari inclined her head daintily in acknowledgement. Uneasy feelings of worry had been eating away at her all morning, and by noon, she was unable to sit idly any longer.

"I am concerned about my daughter," she explained carefully, "She was not entirely herself when she came to see me this past evening."

"No, I imagine she wasn't, and I understand why. While I cannot go into the matter, I wish to assure you that Officer Shanxi's status is no cause for undue concern."

Devaki smiled faintly.

"I do not question your judgment, Executor, but poor is the mother who cannot recognize her child's distress, whether bound by blood or not. Far worse is the one unwilling to act on it."

"She is a capable young woman, Matron. You have raised her well. It is true that I have placed her in a challenging position, but I have every reason to believe it will end in positive growth for all parties involved."

"Yes, of course. I only ask that you not push her too hard. I fear that Shanxi is already running as fast as she can towards an impossible goal. Please understand my need to watch out for where she is going..."

She could see her words were not without affect on the old turian, and after a moment he sighed in defeat.

"I have placed her with a new partner," he said finally, "An officer with an ill-suited personality, perhaps, but I believe Shanxi's strict adherence to regulations and strong sense of personal responsibility make her the prime person to promote improvement."

"I see," the matron said softly as she fought the unflattering urge to bite her lip.

"Should unforeseen problems arise or she makes a formal request for a transfer, then I will personally see to it that Shanxi is placed elsewhere immediately," the Executor said, "You have my word, and my word is my honor."

"Then I shall give your word the respect it deserves," Devaki concluded, "I'm sorry to have kept you from your business, Executor. Good day to you, and many thanks for your insights."

"Matron," Pallin replied with a bow of his head.

The Executor's explanation both relieved and alarmed the asari. Her daughter was not ill, nor in any danger, but she worried that her daughter's generally passive nature might be manipulated by a more dominant mind, perhaps in ways that could harm the girl. While it was true that Shanxi was an intelligent, observant, and highly skilled individual, she also had insecurities that could be exploited by those close to her.

Devaki's nagging conscience told her that she herself was often guilty of playing the lead in Shanxi's life. The matron's face fell in guilt, and her beautiful brow creased in concern at her own actions. It would amaze her daughter to know, that even after centuries of life, Devaki was still searching for the answers to so many questions.

Was it really a sense of moral obligation that made her take on the child? The fear that years in the human's foster system would offer her no future? That her unnamed, abusive father might show up one day to claim her? That she would grow up angry, and spiteful, and unloved, believing that she had been rejected? Or was it selfishness? Devaki's own need to love and be loved in return? To hold onto all she had left of the woman she could never be with?

She placed a hand hurriedly over her fine mouth, as if to speak the words was an act of irredeemable evil.

"What have I done?" she whimpered to the empty air.

.oO--Oo.

Shanxi was thankful that Ayuda had remained relatively silent for the rest of their journey, and after helping her with questioning, she was even beginning to think that the smart-talking turian might actually be useful.

Together, they'd managed to check off all but two of the names on her list, and the their employer told the pair that they could be found at the station finishing up some repairs to a spot of hull damage received on the ship's last voyage.

"Pallin and the station manager obviously weren't counting on the presence of workers for ship reconstruction," Shanxi said as her brow furrowed in thought, "I hope they're about done when we get there or I may have to come up with a change of plans, and that's only if I can get a go-ahead."

"We still need to inspect the ships' cargo for anything off-key," Ayuda reminded her, "Perhaps that would give them enough time to finish whatever they're doing."

"Right," she nodded, "The good news is, I know exactly where we should start."

She tapped the pressure sensitive surface of her data pad a few times and then handed it to Ayuda. The turian read over the log she'd pulled up.

"The Red Admiral's been flagged before," Ayuda said in satisfaction.

"Moving silk worms of all things," Shanxi said with a laugh.

"It's not so unbelievable. Organic materials are increasingly hard to come by, so needless to say, it does a lot to drive up the price. Most turian colonies have sumptuary laws to discourage participation in that sort of trade."

"I know. I was just joking about the name."

"What name?"

"The name of the ship. 'Red Admiral' is a type of butterfly. They're winged insects from Earth that are related to moths," the human explained, "I just think it's a bit brazen for a ship with a name like that to take on that kind of live cargo."

"I see your point," Ayuda said humorlessly, "but I doubt a few moths, worms, or what have you are enough to justify not one but two break-ins on a secured facility."

Shanxi shrugged.

"Who knows," she said, "I've seen some pretty bizarre things get caught in customs and elsewhere on the Citadel. I know the reports don't make our crooks out to be very bright people, but that doesn't mean they aren't _desperate_ people, and until I know exactly what they're here for I'm not going to make any assumptions. It could be something harmless, or it could be military grade explosives."

_You always see the bright side don't you? _The turian thought.

"Looks like Jacoby beat us here," Shanxi observed as the two passed down the corridor to docking bay. She made a barely perceptible movement as she walked by a tiny camera mounted along the air vents that ran down the walls.

"Not so fast," Jacoby's voice came crackling over the wire in Shanxi's right ear, "You haven't given me the password."

Shanxi rolled her eyes.

"Directions?" she radioed back as Ayuda glanced around vainly, trying to spot what he'd obviously missed.

"Come up the stairs on your left when you enter the bay area. There are some unused offices up here. We're two doors down on the right."

Both officers followed the instructions, and soon found themselves in a small, renovated bunker that overlooked the bay's main platform. Jacoby sat in front of an array of three monitors, each locked onto different positions, including the entryway they'd just passed through. The two backup recruits sent by Pallin were picking up wires from a table covered in electronic equipment. Jacoby spun around in his chair to face them.

"I hope my placement's not too obvious," he said to Shanxi, "You didn't have any trouble spotting the lens."

"Only because I know what I'm looking for," Shanxi reassured him, "Ayuda walked right by it."

"Hah-hah," the turian said sarcastically.

"Oh, right," Jacoby said absently, "No offense man."

"Has anyone passed through here?" Shanxi asked.

"Nope. Been two guys in bay eight for the past couple of hours, but as far as I can tell, they're up to a whole lot of nothing."

"Must be the Admiral's repairmen," Ayuda interjected.

"Good, let's start with them, then. The station manager can grant us access to the other ships," Shanxi said before motioning to the recruits, "You two, I'll need your help."

"Have fun," Jacoby said, "I'll be waiting, but hopefully not _too _long. I can't feel my ass as it is..."

The 'repairmen' turned out to be nothing more than two drunks shooting the breeze atop two empty and discarded cargo crates. Some metal panels and other equipment laid scattered about the platform. The ship's airlock door stood ajar, with the sound of a jumbled radio station seeping out. Ayuda and Shanxi eyed each other in understanding.

"This ship belong to you, gentlemen?" Shanxi asked.

A scruffy looking man with an open container in his hand shimmied oddly off the edge of the crate. His friend looked a bit bewildered, as if he hadn't even seen the officers approach.

"Nah," the first one said, "Not mine, but I pilot the damn thing so it may as well be. -burp-"

"I see. Can I ask you what you're doing out here if the ship is docked?"

"Fixin' it, ma'am," his friend butt in, "We were just about to replace some damaged panels."

"Had a minor collision awhile back," the pilot said sheepishly.

"I'm impressed, a pilot and a handyman. I bet your boss pays you pretty well."

"Not half as well as he should! Damned cheapskate…"

The officer's eyes met again, and the stifled laughter of the recruits accompanying them made the pathetic pilot realize he'd said something wrong.

"You wouldn't happen to have anything on this ship that can't be accounted for in your cargo log would you?" Shanxi asked.

Scruffy shook his head vehemently.

"No, ma'am," he said adamantly.

"Are you sure? Because if we have to spend the next half hour searching this ship only to find something out of order, we're going to be a lot less inclined to be lenient."

"If he says there's nothing there, then there's nothing there," his buddy piped up with drunken bravado.

"Suit yourself," Shanxi said.

She waved the two recruits to follow her inside, but Ayuda stayed back and leaned on one of the oversized bins carelessly. The three left behind sat in silence for a few tense moments.

"Shouldn't you go with her?" Bravado asked the turian eagerly.

"She's a professional," Ayuda replied with a tone of disinterest, "I'm sure she can handle it."

Scruffy and his friend gulped as they eyed the seven foot outsider. Ayuda lounged near them listlessly, with a face like stone, even as he cackled mentally at their acute discomfort. Scruffy smiled nervously and pointed at the ship.

"She does look like quite the elite, especially in that get up, heh-heh."

"You've got that right," the turian agreed, "Infiltrator. Top of her class."

"Really?" the men chorused.

"Oh yeah, could blow your head off at hundred paces, _easy_."

Both the drunks blanched and eyed each other for inspiration. After some odd jerking of the eyebrows and edges of their mouths, Bravado looked at Ayuda with intensity.

"What do you think she'd do, if, ya know, we maybe forgot about something on board?"

"Good question. It's hard to say," Ayuda said thoughtfully before grabbing the man roughly, "But I bet it's not half as bad as what _I'll _do to you if you don't tell me what's on that ship _right now_."


	5. Chapter 5

**One Eye Open - Chapter Five**

"Start with whatever's in the cargo bay, but pay attention to the floors and walls as well," Shanxi instructed the recruits, "Look for any uneven surfaces or scratch marks. Check the vents. If you notice anything, call me over, but _do not _attempt to open any obscured compartments."

"Yes, ma'am," they replied with a nod.

Small vessels like the Admiral were the preferred ship for smugglers and pirates. They could be gutted for speed, and the room once occupied by excess equipment would then be converted into storage space, often hidden behind false sheeting between the ship's supports. Because of this, the Citadel had a separate task force dedicated solely to enforcing ship safety standards and docking procedure. All non-military vessels were subject to the possibility of inspection upon arrival or even randomly during the docking period. The same training used for this group was a requirement to graduate from the Academy.

Shanxi recalled with horror a story about booby-trapped hide space told by her squad's instructor on the first day of field training. The asari officer described a scenario in which two inspectors were lifting a loose floor panel only to be assaulted by a nerve gas that had been released by a pressure sensor lodged under it. One of the men survived the incident, but had been blinded and semi-paralyzed for life.

After scanning the cramped bridge and coming up with nothing but evidence of an untidy crew, Shanxi shut off the stuttering radio. She began to walk slowly down the narrow corridor. Every few paces she gave a light tap to the wall's smooth surface and listened. Most of her short stops down the hall produced a dull thump, but after tapping an unpainted section under an air vent, a ding of higher pitch echoed into her ears. Had it been one second later, she'd have missed it, because Jacoby's voice issued over her earbud.

"Um…Shanxi," he muttered.

She froze immediately.

"Is someone entering the bay?" she asked cautiously.

"No, ma'am, but the new boy here looks like he's about to beat the living crap out of these morons," Jacoby explained, "Not that they don't deserve it and all, but I'd rather not have to spend my Saturday in a courtroom testifying if this gets out of hand."

The woman's posture relaxed but she clenched her eyes shut tightly. After taking a few breaths and pondering the difficulties yet to come because of her new partner, she removed her hand from the wall to retreat back to the platform outside.

"I'll take care of it Jacoby. Thanks for the heads up."

"No problem, ma'am."

.oO-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oo.

Outside the ship, Ayuda had a firm grip on each of the men most knowledgeable about the Admiral's latest activities, and he was making his interest in that information perfectly clear.

"Where'd you get the amps?!" the turian roared at Bravado. The human's friend Scruffy had already withered under Ayuda's forcefulness, but not before letting slip some details about a pick up of unlicensed merchandise. Now, he stood by uselessly while his partner in crime took the heat.

"Here on the Citadel," Bravado whimpered pitifully, "But I didn't make the take, so I don't know who the supplier is."

The turian placed his foot over the human's toes and leaned his weight against it.

"Ow!" the man cried, almost breaking into sobs as his foot was crushed, "I don't know the contact! Ouch! God, I'm telling you the truth!"

"You'll give me a name, or I swear I'll beat you so bad they'll be enough blood to paint every white wall in this Citadel red…" Ayuda hissed.

"Ayuda!" Shanxi called.

The turian loosened his hold on the men as the woman closed the gap between them. Even from where he stood, Ayuda could see the upset in her eyes.

"What do you think you're doing?!" she demanded.

Shanxi was displeased and more than a little disturbed by the notion that Ayuda would resort to violent means of interrogation. She'd heard rumors of officers roughing up suspects around the bureau before, but never encountered it amongst the members of her division.

"Just having a _little chat _with our friends here about shipping and receiving," Ayuda said smugly, "By which I mean the _stealing_ and _fencing_ of unlicensed biotic amps. They said they were acquired here on the Citadel, but this little snot claims he wasn't the one who met with the supplier. "

"-because it's the truth!" the man piped up.

"Quiet you!" Ayuda barked back.

"Are the amps in the shaft at the end of the bridge hall?" she asked as she inspected the men for injury.

Bravado grimaced and took a deep breath. He glared daggers at the turian holding him before turning his head towards Shanxi. Now that she'd found the hiding spot, there really wasn't any point in lying about it.

"Yes," he said simply, "But like I told this oversized lizard here, I didn't pick them up. It was _him_."

The man jerked his head towards the stunned pilot.

"Is that true?" she asked him.

Upon closer inspection, she surmised that there wouldn't be any answers out of the overindulged pilot. The man's face was flushed around the eyelids and almost translucent almost everywhere else. His vision wasn't focused and it was obvious by his limp posture that Ayuda's handful of his greasy shirt was the only thing holding him upright. What alarmed her most however, was his shallow breathing.

"I think this man needs a doctor," she said as she leaned forward to check his pupils, "He's having trouble breath-"

Suddenly, the man convulsed and retched all over the front of her hard suit. His eyes bulged as he coughed and sputtered. After it was over, he hung his head as a painful wheezing sound escaped his throat. A few remaining drops of greenish bile dripped from his mouth and chin onto the bay platform.

Ayuda was obviously disgusted, and stepped back a few paces to avoid the vomit, taking both suspects with him.

"You killed him!" Bravado yelled at Ayuda.

"Oh, don't be so dramatic," the turian replied coolly, "He's just hung over. Didn't your mother ever tell you that alcohol is bad for you?"

Shanxi just stood by motionless, thankful that she couldn't feel the warm mess running down her chest through the enforced plating. Her brown eyes closed as the foul smell of alcohol and stomach acid crept into her nostrils, almost making her want to repeat the pilot's performance. Instead, she focused her concentration inward, willing her posture to relax and her nerves to calm using the techniques Devaki had taught her as a child. A few brief seconds later, she had regained her composure.

"Irena, Tyler," she called into the mic along her jawbone, "I've got an unstable suspect out here who needs to be taken to the med clinic. We can search the rest of the ship later, but I don't think this man can wait to be transported."

"On our way," the recruits replied.

"What about this other one?" Ayuda asked, marveling at this partner's tranquility.

"He's going to come with me to open the wall shaft," Shanxi ordered, "We need to get those amps off the ship and secured, quickly."

The turian nodded.

"As soon as we have them moved into the bunker with Jacoby, I'm putting a call in to have this ship impounded off Citadel," she continued, "It doesn't meet the requirements for a ship of it's class, and with these two headed to jail, that hull damage isn't going to get repaired any time soon."

"You can't do that!" Bravado protested.

"I can, and I will. If your employer wants it back, they can pay the hangar fee and the cost of repairs to bring it up to standards. Now, come on, I need the amps off the Admiral and we don't have any time to waste."

.oO-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oo.

As soon as the recruits had made off with the ill-looking pilot, Shanxi and Ayuda secured the amps with the remaining man's help. Thankfully, the wall shaft didn't present any danger, and the crate had been easily extracted. Ayuda took the prisoner and the crate back into the bunker while Shanxi did one final sweep of the platform. When she finally returned, Jacoby greeted her with chuckles.

"Hahaha, _wow_… I don't know if projectile vomiting counts as assault on an officer," Jacoby said through his hysterical laughter, "But with a reek like that, _it should_."

"_Thank you_, Jacoby," Shanxi said groaned.

"No disrespect, ma'am," he added hurriedly, "It takes a lot of grace to stay together like that, specially in front of the newbies."

"Is there a place I can wash up?"

"Yeah, there's a restroom down a couple doors at the end of a breezeway, but it's mostly for the bay workers use so it might be kinda gross…"

She just nodded stoically.

"I'll be back in a just a second, keep your eyes out for our perp."

"Will do."

Ayuda watched the human go back out the airlock with disgust. If he'd been the one Scruffy had puked on, the man wouldn't have needed a medical professional. He'd have needed a handful of bodyguards with really big guns.

"Why does she put up with that?" he snapped at Jacoby.

The human just shrugged with a wry smile as he circled around in his swivel chair.

"That's just how Shanxi is," Jacoby said, "I don't think I've ever seen her angry. Sometimes, I'm worried she's gonna crack one day and kill us all."

Ayuda's eye ridges rose slightly.

"Well, not _really_," the human continued, "But you aren't he first to wonder how she deals with all her bad luck. Woman just can't catch a break it seems…"

"You get thrown up on a lot in this line of work?"

"No, not _that_. I just mean, in general. Always gets the assignments nobody else wants, Pallin's constantly on her case, and then her partner died…"

"Her partner died?" Ayuda asked in a subdued voice, "How?"

Jacoby leaned back in his chair and threaded his fingers together over his stomach. He nodded silently and stared into space while he used his legs to slide back and forth in the chair.

"It was a raid on a stash warehouse and her partner was under heavy fire. Shanxi threw a sabotage mine in the gunmen's direction, but it didn't activate," Jacoby said sadly, "We didn't see Shanxi around the station much after it happened, but I know she felt bad because I went to check on her. It took her awhile to come to the door, and when she did, I could tell she'd been crying."

"I think she felt guilty, but there's no way she could have known that device was going to fail. I told her it was a problem with their design, not with her, but she wasn't hearing any of it. She put in a notice to quit, but a few days later she was back in action with the rest of us."

"How does _that_ work?" Ayuda balked with a snort.

"_That's exactly what I thought_," Jacoby agreed, "And it's what chaps my ass most about this whole thing. No one knows for sure, but I think Pallin talked her out of it. Bastard's only interest lies in the performance of the organization as a whole, even at the cost of it's best people. Brass was pushing him I guess. He couldn't afford to let Shanxi leave after all the time and training C-Sec had invested in her."

Ayuda shook his head and Jacoby threw his hands wide as if to leave the topic open to speculation.

"She seems solid enough now," he added, "But I still don't like the idea of Pallin holding a gun to her head."

_So, even C-Sec has it's share of corruption,_Ayuda thought. Purchasing a few painkillers was a far cry from a conspiracy to intimidate psychologically traumatized officers, especially when those officers were then being forced into situations that could cause them to become agitated. The fact Shanxi was a human and Pallin was a turian wouldn't help the old executor's case if such allegations were ever brought to light.

Ayuda recalled Jacoby's joke about Shanxi becoming dangerous, and it gave him pause. Jacoby broke his quiet contemplation to get in one last word on the matter.

"Here at Citadel Security, we're all about results!" he mocked in a rough imitation of Executor Pallin's voice, "_Or else…"_

.oO-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oo.

Shanxi thought it was funny that the patio-like corridors in the docking bays were still referred to as breezeways. After all, there was no breeze in space, and the only light on the outside of the Citadel was provided by an unending series of neon-colored strip lights. The glare of them against the total black of the horizon made her eyes hurt as she walked towards the restroom.

Sometimes, she wondered what is was like out on the planets. She'd been born on the Citadel, and at no point in her life had there been any cause to leave it, so the idea of natural light and wind was a foreign fantasy she could experience only in the virtual reality arcades on the Nox ward arm.

It embarrassed her to admit, even to herself, that she really had no idea what all her efforts on the Citadel were really for. She had no homeland to protect, no ancient culture or customs to preserve. Even among other humans, she felt like an outcast more often and than not. It's why she'd turned down the proposals from the Alliance. It didn't feel right to align herself with interests she really had no share in outside of being from the same species. Despite the flamboyant name she'd been given at birth, what she wished for humans was no different from what she wished for everyone else: freedom and prosperity, amongst other things.

As she came upon the door that must have led to the restroom, she noted with alarm that the lights on an access elevator further down the wall were ticking towards her level. A stirring in her gut told her something was wrong. She reacted quickly by dashing behind a narrow outcropping and freeing one of her pistols. As quietly as she could, she whispered into her headset.

"I have movement…"


	6. Chapter 6

**One Eye Open - Chapter Six**

Ayuda bolted to his feet the minute Shanxi's warning was transmitted. It was about time he saw some action. He fingered his weapon eagerly while Jacoby typed furiously at his keyboard, rotating the northern camera until they could get a visual. Sure enough, when the elevator came into view, it's airlock doors were slowly sliding open. A hooded figure stepped out cautiously.

"Good. Now we catch these idiots," Ayuda muttered just before dashing out of the room.

"Good luck," Jacoby called after him.

"Headed your way," the turian relayed to his partner as he ran down the hallway.

"Take the bay platform," Shanxi advised, "Suspect looks skittish, I think he might run."

"You got it."

"And be careful, I can't tell if he's armed."

_Well, that's just great_, he thought irritably. He could turn the corner and come face to face with a bullet. It wouldn't be the first time he'd been shot, and probably wouldn't be the last, but he was already being forced to over exert his bad leg, so a gunshot wound certainly wasn't going to do anything to sweeten his disposition.

.oO-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oo.

Shanxi waited in a crouched position for the intruder to pass far enough into the bay that she could cut off the route back to the elevator. Periodically, she peered around the edge of the outcropping to spot weapons, but the figure's cloak obscured the rest of his attire. Assuming it was a him. All she could tell for sure was that their suspect was of comparably human proportions and that he was patently aware he was somewhere he shouldn't be.

The unknown intruder stopped every few yards to throw cautious glances towards the breezeway and out into the open platform where the ships were docked. As his gaze circled around to her hiding place, she shifted back behind the metal post, and counted a few breaths. It would take Ayuda awhile to close the distance, and she wanted to time it right.

Her hand went to one of the pouches in her utility belt, from which she removed a small silver sphere. Two shallow indentations marred it's shiny surface. Upon holding one button down for a few seconds, a hairline crack around it's equator was illuminated by a cold blue light.

"I'm moving in," she radioed to the turian.

The human blew lightly upon the sphere for luck, and before the fog from her breath had faded, she was out in the walkway, mine in one hand, pistol in the other.

Shanxi released the mine with practiced precision, and listened to the familiar whizzing sound of it's flight, followed by the delayed bang of blown fuses as it reached it's target. When the intruder jumped back in panic, she caught a glimpse of an omni-tool covered in fractured forks of roaming static charges. She immediately brought up her weapon while the figure tried to regain it's senses from the blinding flash.

"C-Sec! Stop where you are!" she commanded. She advanced slowly as the little tongues of blue lightening engulfing the suspect died out. The figure looked up at her in alarm, and through the shadowy cowl she could see the reflection of the stars in a pair of large, aqueous eyes.

A tense moment passed, then the figure darted with surprising agility for the platform bay, just as she'd expected. With a huff of irritation she chased after him.

"He's coming straight for you," she called on her headset.

"I got him," the turian replied.

Almost before Shanxi knew what was happening, a dark blur shot out from the poorly lit docking station and slammed into the fleeing burglar. Upon collision, the suspect flew backwards several feet, propelled by the turian's velocity and superior weight. The impact also managed to dislodge a pistol which hit the floor with a clank and skidded to a stop just a short distance in front of the female officer.

Shanxi closed in and snapped up the weapon while Ayuda subdued the flailing suspect. She breathed a sigh of relief as she removed the clip from the handgun and secured it a slot at her belt.

"Damn, Ayuda, you're a bruiser," Jacoby laughed over the com, "You really plowed that guy. I got that on_video_!"

"He shouldn't have run," Ayuda said peevishly while he got the suspect oriented upright.

For once, Shanxi agreed. Running from C-Sec officers was never a good idea, and investigators were authorized to use force if someone resisted arrest.

"Nice tackle," she complimented.

"No problem," he said with a shrug., "I'm just surprised this poor sap was dumb enough to try a heist like this alone."

Now that the suspect was standing on his own two feet again, Ayuda's taloned hand went to the figure's hood and drew it back with a jerk. It fell away to reveal a jittery, grayish-hued salarian.

"Search him," Shanxi instructed.

The turian began to pat down the salarian and sift through the folds of his cloak.

"You already have my only weapon!" the salarian cried in protest.

"You can speak when you're spoken to," Ayuda barked back in warning.

When he moved to a side pocket, the turian's hand caught on something, and he withdrew it carefully. He glanced briefly at the small metal case before holding it out from his body so that Shanxi wouldn't have to approach the salarian too closely. She holstered her weapon and took it from him, being careful to keep an eye on the tense suspect.

"That's nothing important!" the salarian sputtered.

"Then you won't mind if we take a look at it," Ayuda spat, "Remember what I told you about talking? Quit squirming!"

Shanxi opened the slim box with a click and filed through the contents. Among the articles was a pass card she recognized, and it made her eyes widen in surprise, then harden in disapproval.

"He has a lot of reasons to be worried," she said to Ayuda as held out the pass card for him to look at, "This salarian is one of us."

Ayuda bound the salarian's hands while Shanxi recited his rights.

"Officer Huit, you're under arrest…"

.oO-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oo.

"Your report is very…_disconcerting_, Shanxi," Pallin said at last.

The three officers had been standing at attention for what seemed like an eternity while the Executor read over the file Shanxi had prepared. The old turian had repeatedly looked back at parts, rereading it as though he'd missed something. Shanxi understood that this usually meant one of two things; that he was displeased with his officers' work, or that he was worried.

While the no-nonsense old soldier was the chief authority at C-Sec, even he had to bow to the will of the Council and answer for the organization's slip-ups. It was rare for an officer to receive a reprimand for anything beyond minor lapses of protocol, so the thought of one committing a felony was ludicrous, and certainly not something he had ever imagined he'd have to deal with. Now, the possibility of facing his own interrogation before the Citadel's governing body was looming in the evidence splayed across his desk.

Shanxi watched with concern as the turian's hand went to the recovered C-Sec pass card for the third time. Jacoby scratched at his nose absently, and Ayuda just shifted to favor his good leg with an audible sigh.

"Still," the Executor continued at length, "It is obvious that this is a serious matter that requires Internal Affairs to step in. I will be taking over the investigation into Officer Huit's actions, but I still need you to find out where those amps came from."

"Yes, sir," she said.

"Chellick has been watching the illegal arms dealing out of Chora's for the past few months, and he may be able to help you with an identification," Pallin offered, "However, he still has jurisdiction in that region of the Wards, so you are to report to him for clearance before taking any actions there. We cannot risk a compromise in his investigation."

"What about the pilot I had transported?"

"He's still at the Med Center. Dr. Prachett sent me a file a half hour ago. She has informed me that he is in stable condition and up to questioning, but she is unwilling to move him until he has undergone a detox treatment. As soon as that has occurred, I want him brought in for booking."

"Will do, sir."

"Jacoby…" Pallin said turning to the other human present.

"Yes, sir?" he asked, jumping quickly back to alertness.

"Get your surveillance uploaded to the secure server and tagged as soon as possible, then return to your duties in the Networks division. As for you, Ayuda, you are to continue with Shanxi as a probationary officer. You will defer to her authority and follow her instructions to the letter."

"Oh, of course," Ayuda mocked, "Good thing you placed me with her and not _Huit_."

The jab wasn't lost on the Executor, and the older turian scowled.

"Yes, good thing, because for all your _rapier_wit, a salarian would find your dubious intellect sadly sub par," Pallin ridiculed.

Jacoby tried to stifle a laugh which only ended up escaping as a snort. Shanxi's brow knit and she glanced between both parties uncomfortably. When it became clear that Ayuda wasn't go to press the challenge, the Executor spoke again.

"I have to begin preparing this information for presentation to the Council and I do not wish to be disturbed," he finished, "If you have any further questions you will direct them to Chellick. Dismissed."

Together, the group exited the office. Once safely through the airlock and out of earshot, Jacoby turned to apologize to Ayuda while Shanxi went on ahead.

"Sorry, man," he said, "I tried to keep it in. No offense meant."

"None taken," Ayuda growled.

"But hey! You get to work Chellick, now," the human said in a weak attempt to divert the conversation, "He's a pretty cool guy. Knows what he's doing."

"Is he a human, too?"

"Nah, man, _turian_. Like you."

"_Wonderful_…"

"Anyway, I gotta get back to my cubicle and transfer those video files for Pallin. Catch you later!"

"You're not coming with us?"

"Nope. I'm just a Network tech. Hacking and cyber crime are my specialties, so occasionally I get called in to setup secure surveillance networks for the Investigation division. I'm no good in the field or a firefight, but if you ever wanna know how often the Executor leaves his office to use the john, I got ya covered."

The red haired human clapped Ayuda on the back with enthusiasm before heading down the opposite end of the hall. The uncalled for contact made the turian stiffen a bit before he remembered the scene in the locker room the previous day. Even though he'd observed the human behavior for himself, it seemed to him that striking someone was a poor way to bond.

"I think you'll do well with Shanxi!" Jacoby called back in farewell, just before disappearing behind closing elevator doors. Ayuda shook his head at the odd computer tech, then headed back to the barracks.

.oO-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oo.

Ayuda's stomach rumbled as he draped a cowl over the long, chitinous crests that plated his face and head. Running around all day hadn't left him much time to get anything to eat, and he doubted anything C-sec had to offer would be very appetizing. While changing into one of his own light armors and a hood, he decided it would be best to get his own meal. The pain in his leg had prevented him from wandering too far the night before, but now that he had relief, he thought a little adventure was in order, and since he didn't have to report again until the morning, this was the perfect time to do some exploring.

He arranged his cowl carefully to hide the chipped crest on the right side of his head. Vanity was no issue for him, but the missing spike was a painful reminder of his accident, and he didn't feel like looking at it or answering any curious questions.

_Probably shouldn't even bother to paint my face_, he thought bitterly.

The rumble sounded louder this time, as if his stomach was agitated that his mind was on the past and not the present. He grabbed his pass card off his desk and sidled out of the room.

When he passed through the break room and mess hall, he was mildly surprised to see Shanxi seated by herself, with nothing but her clasped hands on the table in front of her. He noted that the pensive lines around her eyes and forehead were etched more clearly than usual. A few stray locks of hair spiraled down the sides of her face, and her thin lips were pressed together thoughtfully.

Ayuda took a few steps into the room, but she didn't seem to notice him. The woman had changed out of her hard suit and was now dressed in her plain, C-Sec uniform. When he got close, however, the stench of the vomit that had encrusted her body armor still lingered.

"I thought you were going to take a shower," he said.

"The water in my unit is broken again," she replied in a dull voice, without turning her head to look at him.

"Well, how do you like _that_," Ayuda bristled, "The Council funnels tons of funds into C-Sec and they can't keep their _plumbing _working?"

"It's alright," Shanxi dismissed, "It goes out every couple of months."

_No, it's not alright_, the turian thought to himself. That an officer had to put up with being covered in a strange man's day old dinner was deplorable, especially when that officer had just successfully apprehended three criminals and recovered stolen goods worth well over a hundred thousand credits. He felt angry for the woman, and even angrier at the system. His empty stomach was making his mood even worse.

"C-Sec gets away with a lot of crap, Shanxi. Piss poor care taking of it's people and property shouldn't be among them. The water's still on in my room. You can clean up there," he told her.

"No, I'm fine. I don't want to impose on anyone," she muttered without looking at him.

"Don't be ridiculous," the turian said as he dropped his pass-card on the table next to her, "I've taken to locking it after you barged in on me, but I'm heading out for awhile, so you have no excuse not to take up my offer. You can't impose on someone who isn't there to be imposed on."

"What about your privacy?"

"There's nothing in that room that you haven't already seen."

"I'm sorry for that. Last night I mean. I just wanted to keep you updated so you wouldn't get-"

"In trouble," the turian finished, "I know. That's your biggest problem. You spend entirely too much time looking out for other people at the cost of looking out for_yourself_."

The look she gave him suggested she had heard those words before, and was a bit chagrined it was already obvious to him after such a short time.

"Can I ask where you are going?" she said.

"To get something to eat. Do you want anything?"

"No, thank you. I should really get cleaned up and go see Chellick about those amps."

"Fine," Ayuda said shortly, "But for the record, I _did_ offer."

She smiled at him, and he found that the traces of warmth in her expression eased his irritability somewhat.

"Yes, and I appreciate it," she said, "I think maybe we got off on the wrong foot, Ayuda, but I'm grateful for your help today."

"I already said it once," the turian replied, "_No problem_. Now, I'm out of here."

Shanxi watched the turian leave, then glanced at the pass card to his room. It made her smile a bit to think that she'd missed her bath the night before on his account, and then here he was repaying her for her trouble, without even realizing it. She stood up from the table, card in hand. Maybe he wouldn't turn out so bad after all…


	7. Chapter 7

**One Eye Open - Chapter Seven**

Ayuda was glad he had decided to get out of the barracks again. The Citadel was proving to be far too interesting to stay holed up in his room trying to deny his predicament. The turian had heard stories about the place before of course, but nothing had prepared him for it's sheer size, nor the vast scope of it's varied population. Races he couldn't even recognize congregated in every courtyard and corridor, dozens of unknown languages buzzed through the energized air. The constant busyness made him feel alive, and the anonymity of being a small piece of such a large puzzle made him feel daring. He moved along unnoticed, taking in the conversation and commerce that he passed with each footstep.

Being so far from the confines of a turian battleship had embarrassed and angered him at first, but the more exposure he had to the Citadel, the more he found himself thrilled by the opportunities present there. All turian raised their sons to be soldiers, and it was a role that he easily took to, but it had begun to feel empty to him during the time before he'd injured his leg. It bothered him to take orders without guidance, to attack, defend, or even die without a sense of purpose. For the turian race, they'd told him, but what was the turian race? A bunch of blind, duty-bound fools with no greater ambition than to make life as mechanical as possible? To drain out individuality for the sake of a bland but unchallenged unity?

He wondered bitterly if his life would have been different had he not been born to a turian general. If, instead, he had been raised in the Citadel, not an ever-changing venue of colonies that he could call home for only as long as it took his father to end engagements in the area. The whole lot of them together couldn't begin to compare to a single district in the massive spaceport where he now found himself. Perhaps if he had been here, in this bustling metropolis, he could have made his own way, not simply be forced along the rungs of the elaborate turian hierarchy.

These ruminations instilled a sense of newfound freedom in Ayuda, followed by an eagerness to experience the new things that his change in circumstances made available to him. Unlike when he was in the military, he now had some time to himself, and even at work things were looking up. It seemed that his first few days on enforcement patrol with Shanxi had just been a brief downtime in what was a normally busy schedule for the human investigator. Despite her shy nature in casual settings, he was pleased to discover she was in fact a quite competent officer, and he hoped that the rest of his stay at C-Sec would be as active as today had been.

For the first time in a long time, personal satisfaction bubbled up in him, free of his usual malice and caustic cynicism. He pulled a tapered scarf from his cowl and rubbed it along his ridged face, leaving behind a greasy, sage green stain. With an exaggerated air, he threw the end of the cloth back over his shoulder, hoping that the little paint smudge would take away all his unhappiness with it. A passing turian slowed to eye his odd behavior, but Ayuda's mind was made up.

"I spit on the meritocracy!" he bellowed. Before the other turian could even drop his jaw in shock at the outburst, Ayuda was halfway down the corridor, striding along with a sense of urgency. Today, he would put his past behind him.

.oO-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oo.

Shanxi was encouraged by the friendly faces and nods of acknowledgement that greeted her as she ascended the main stairwell to the C-Sec Academy. It had been nearly five years since she'd left the multifunction training compound and headquarters to sign on with her division in the Wards. She was glad to find that her return to the illustrious institution offered a comforting new perspective.

Her early years here had been troubled ones. Both instructors and the other candidates in training had expressed resentment of the special circumstances that had allowed her such an early entry into the prestigious organization, but she hoped that the respect she saw in the gazes turned towards her today meant she'd finally earned her place among the elite. The young woman tried to remain dignified as she reached the platform in front of the sliding double doors that lead to the public foyer. While she waited for them to open, a hand brushed up her back and across her shoulders. She jumped and her arm shot up in defense only to smack harmlessly against Chellick's chest plate.

"You scared me!" she scolded, "Have you been following me this whole time?"

"Not the _whole_ time," he admitted with amusement.

Despite herself, Shanxi couldn't help but smile at the senior officer. Chellick had been her weapon specialization instructor when she was enrolled in the Academy, and while he made his living in subterfuge, he was the only person in C-Sec that had always been honest with her. He was also the only turian she'd ever met that didn't have problems with personal space. She figured it was because of the unique demands his job in undercover work required. After all, intimidation, charm and simple body language could be just as effective as an assault rifle if one knew what they were doing. In fact, it was always the first lesson Chellick taught his students: Controlling a situation with words was always preferable to controlling a situation with guns. You couldn't get answers from a corpse.

"I assume you're here to see me though, right?" he asked after she'd relaxed once more. She nodded. "Let's head up to my office, then. I've got some information for you."

Together, they passed by the guards and into the lobby, where secretaries were hard at work answering phones and directing civilians to recruits who were available to hear their reports or complaints.

It was busy as always, but the turian detective deftly threaded them through the sea of chaos to one of the side wings where ranking officers had their private offices. One of these coveted corners belonged to Chellick.

"Come in," he said, ushering her inside of his well-lit work space and offering a chair, "I'm glad you came to see me. There are some things I've been wanting to speak with you about."

"There are a few things I hope I could learn from you, as well," she replied genially.

Chellick smiled and took his seat behind his desk.

"Do you know the value of those amps you recovered, Shanxi?" he asked her. When she shook her head slightly, he chuckled. "Well, let's just say that as far I'm concerned, you can have _anything you want._"

"How about info on their source?"

"Ah, but I was going to give you that anyway. You should drive a harder bargain."

"So, you know where they came from?"

"I do," the turian nodded, "It's one of the regulars working out of Chora's, but I'm afraid any attempt to collar this man is out of the question. At least in this point in time."

"What?" Shanxi started, "Why?"

Chellick held up a single talon to indicate patience before he began typing quickly on his keyboard. Shanxi bent forward on the edge of her seat to watch him.

"My network went quiet a few weeks back," he explained as he booted some files, "I couldn't meet with many of my contacts and other informers dropped off the radar completely. For awhile, I wasn't sure what was happening, but some new intel came in a few days ago that indicates there's been a recent shift in the balance of power."

"Fellow named Fist has been moving up the ranks in the Den's little ring and he's looking to seat himself at the head of it if he can. From the looks of it, he's going to come out on top of this little coup and settle in to take over operations with a retinue of krogan cronies. Tensions are high and any arrests now would only end in a bloodbath."

"What do you suggest, then?" Shanxi asked him.

"I was hoping to use the confusion to plant a spy within their ranks," the turian contemplated, "They'll be plenty of thugs making bids for power while the regime changes hands, as well as those willing to change sides to save their hides. I think the odds are good that we could slip someone in unnoticed among the commotion."

"And who do you suggest? It'd be dangerous to send in an established officer," the woman argued, "What if they're recognized?"

"That was something I was hoping you could help me with," Chellick said slyly.

"You want me to do it?" she replied in disbelief.

"No," the turian dismissed with a shake of his head, "I know you wouldn't be comfortable in a place like that, and I respect you entirely to much to ask it of you."

He clicked a few keys on his pad and turned to the holographic photo that appeared on the back wall.

"I want _him_," Chellick said bluntly.

Shanxi peered at the turian in the picture, and the surly scowl on his face left her speechless.

"Ayuda?" she croaked in confusion.

"Precisely."

"Are you serious?"

"Of course I am," Chellick rebuffed, "Look at him, Shanxi. You don't think he fits the role? That's not someone you might be suspicious of had you met him elsewhere?"

She looked up at the photo again, unable to deny his rough exterior. Ayuda's plating was coal black over slightly lighter scales, and his prominent eye ridges came together in a tight point right above his nose, from which his tribal markings radiated outward in angry spikes of emerald. Parts of his chitin covering were cracked, and an entire spike form his crest had fallen away. The turian's most unnerving feature, however, was his pair of blazing yellow irises that almost swallowed the onyx pupils set within them. His was a quick and piercing gaze, like the faint prick of a thin needle, needing contact only once before his subject was infected with his presence. Chellick was right; people could fear Ayuda. Even so, she couldn't help but shake her head.

"Chora's is dangerous, and he just got here," she said.

"That's why he'd be perfect for the job," Chellick countered, "No one knows who he is, and any new punk on the Citadel would be wise to curry the favor of the local ringleader, especially one as paranoid as Fist. He'll prefer people he believes have no other ties here. It's easier to simply cut out the competition than to crush them."

Shanxi frowned. Chellick's plan had merits, and Ayuda _was_ a turian of unorthodox methods that had already gotten him into hot water, but as the officer in charge, it was her responsibility to look out for him.

"I don't think Pallin would approve this," she said, trying to find a tactful way turn down the detective's idea. Chellick was her superior, and her friend, she didn't want to risk upsetting one of the only people in C-Sec who had always accepted her.

"I can handle Pallin," he assured her, "I know he gives you a lot of guff because you're a human, but he can't pull that punch with me."

She sat silently, brow furrowed, struggling with what was placed before her. Meanwhile, Chellick was becoming impatient.

"How about we leave the decision to him?" the turian offered.

"That's not fair," she said anxiously, "Ayuda doesn't know any better. He'd have no clue what he'd be signing up for."

"Then we'll have a conference tomorrow to discuss it, all three of us."

"I won't lie to him."

"I would never expect you to."

The human shrank back into her chair, pulling her legs up to her chest. She threw her hands around them and rested her forehead on her knees childishly. After a few moments, she looked up again.

"Would he be going in there alone?" she asked.

"No, there are other contacts already in place among the establishment's staff," Chellick informed her, "I even pass through from time to time myself, and if things get bad, we can always pull him out."

Shanxi nodded absently, still balled up in Chellick's chair. Her mind was already playing through the horrible things that could happen to her new partner. The slightest slip up and she'd have two deaths on her hands.

"Alright, we can have a meeting," she finally agreed, "But should he say yes, I want a part in preparing him for the job. I can't let him go without knowing he's as ready as I would be."

"Of course. I'll schedule it with my secretary."

Shanxi rose from her chair to leave, and the turian caught her by her arm.

"I know you don't like this, Shanxi," he said, "But I promise you, everything will be fine. Is there anything else you need before you leave?"

She paused and tried to think.

"You don't happen to know a turian named Carrick do you?" she asked him.

"Doesn't sound familiar, but I can look into it for you if you like."

"No, that's alright. Just a turian my mother introduced me to. It's not a big deal, I was just curious."

They walked back outside the station and stood on the entry platform.

"Get some sleep, Shanxi," Chellick told her, "You made a huge catch day, and everyone here is proud of you."

She just nodded and headed for the barracks. The detective's omission of her partner in his parting comment irked her for some unknown reason. It rang in her mind like a bad omen, and she walked just a little quicker…


	8. Chapter 8

**One Eye Open - Chapter Eight **

Pallin passed his hands reverently over the deep maroon armor that he'd donned with quiet ceremony upon returning home from his hearing with the Council. The rigid contours complimented his form, and he found the color pleasing. Red was the hue of paradox; of love and hate, of all the strong emotions. It was the essence of victory, and it suited him well.

He closed his eyes a moment, trying to silently recall each and every one of the missions he'd completed in the well maintained suit. His talons dipped in a small dent, earned by a bullet strong enough to break through his barriers; then they ran across a rough place in the paint, burned out and pitted years ago by an acid splash. Armax Arsenal built a product that was made to last, and it had never failed him. The old executor only wished everything was so reliable.

For years he'd held as tight a fist over his organization as possible, systematically wringing out slackers, traitors and malcontents until C-Sec cut a fine shape into the moral fiber of Citadel citizens. He was keenly aware of the fact that their performance was a reflection of his effectiveness as a leader, and he wasn't foolish enough to believe that the steep requirements for entry would be enough to keep bad seeds from slipping through the cracks. During his thirty years of service he'd seen many questionable reports pass his desk, filled with 'facts' that didn't add up, and every time one such report fell into his hands, his blood boiled. He knew from experience, however, that places like C-Sec operated under a conspiracy of silence; no one man would turn on another for fear of being turned against entirely, so hard evidence of corruption was often hard to obtain, and attempts to take disciplinary action were difficult. It was with mixed feelings of rage and elation, then, that he'd received Shanxi's report earlier that day.

Disappointment and disgust were always his initial reactions to hints of corruption, but he was thrilled that the solidity of his investigator's case also allowed him the rare opportunity to take swift, decisive measures; to send a message to his men. Too long had he listened to allegations of bribery, information sharing, and extortion whispered among them. Today, for the first time in years, he would be the one doing the talking, and the executor had every intention of making certain he was heard.

.oO--Oo.

"Undercover, huh?" Jacoby asked through a mouthful of ramen noodles as Shanxi combed her hair in the small mirror mounted on her dorm's north wall, "Why can't I get any of the cool jobs?"

"It's not funny, Jacoby," the woman said sternly, "Ayuda could get hurt. He could get killed."

The man on her monitor put down his microwave meal and wiped his face.

"I thought you were trying to put that behind you," he said carefully. Neither of them needed to say the words to know exactly what he was referring to. Shanxi looked at herself critically in the mirror for several moments before taking a deep breath that she released as a shuddering sigh.

"_Trying_," she whispered softly as she clenched her eyes shut, "I just hate being put in the middle of this."

"Yeah, well, I blame Pallin. He's trying to make you crack, Shanxi."

"The Executor has nothing to do with this, it's Chellick's idea."

"Then it's also his responsibility, so if anything happens, it can't be put over on you. Besides, it sounds like it's ultimately up to Ayuda to decide, and I say if he wants to go, let him go. Dude is _tough_. He can handle himself."

"You really enjoyed that tackle didn't you?"

"Are you kidding? We've had it looping on the big screen down in Networks all evening. Guy's my hero…"

Shanxi smiled despite herself and turned around on her bed to face the monitor on her desk.

"You're too easily amused, Jacoby."

"Hey, it may not be as priceless as the shot of Alanna picking her nose, but it's still classic. I think we should send it to Alliance Navy for their training vids with a caption that reads 'Turian Touch Football, Just Say No'."

Jacoby's humor eased the worry in Shanxi somewhat. It was true that Chellick ran a smooth operation, and as erratic as his moods were, Ayuda still followed orders, so perhaps her previous experiences were causing her to become overly concerned. Nothing would be decided for certain until tomorrow anyway, and all she could do now was offer him her council then leave the choice in her partner's hands. She got up and crossed the room to sit at her desk while a crashing noise came through on the speakers.

"Ah, crap," Jacoby blurted, "Hill just dominoed some towers."

Banging, a few more clatters and barely audible swearing came through while Jacoby spoke to someone off screen, "What the hell, man?!"

Another voice she couldn't quite make out spoke back to the tech. Shanxi watched with amusement as his animated features flew into motion with a stinging retort.

"Yeah? Well, you should watch your big feet, sasquatch," Jacoby spat at the offending coworker, "When was the last time you had a shave, anyway? This is the Deep-Space Age not the Stone Age. Damn."

"Difficulties?" Shanxi asked with a smile.

"Completely mental," Jacoby replied with an obscene gesture to someone at his right, "I gotta go avert disaster, Shanxi, but promise me you won't worry too much?"

"If you promise not to kill anyone," she quipped.

"I'll try… Not to that is. I'll try not to."

"Have a good night, Jacoby."

"Right back at ya. I'm out."

When the man's face had faded, she leaned forward and shut off the monitor with a flip of a switch. The soft, eerie sound of electricity ceasing it's circuit seemed so loud in the tiny, empty room. For almost five years she'd been in this same barrack, and it still didn't feel comfortable to her. It wasn't insufficient for her needs in any way, but it was devoid of the things Shanxi had grown up with, the things she was used to. There was no music, no sound of Devaki singing or her students practicing. No laughter, and none of the expensive flowers only opera patrons could afford to buy. She couldn't lay her head in Devaki's lap while the asari ran her fingers through her hair, something she had done often when Shanxi was young and the scar from her biopsy itched.

Sometimes she was afraid the bare walls would choke her, and it was those days that she would think about her mother. Her_real _mother. What had she been like? Did she look like Shanxi? Talk like her? Would she be proud of what her daughter had become? The young woman tried not to ask Devaki too many questions, fearing that her inquiries would make her seem ungrateful, or make the asari matron feel inadequate, but an innate urge to know her origins ate at her inside. She hoped that one day, Devaki would tell her these things on her own, that perhaps the asari had a wisdom her daughter wasn't ready for yet.

Shanxi's mind had already become so deep in it's meditations on her family that Ayuda's deep voice on the door com made her jump.

"It's me," the speaker crackled, "I came to get my pass card back. Are you up?"

"One second!" she yelled, hoping he could hear it through the door while she rushed to cleanup what was left of her dinner.

.oO--Oo.

Ayuda waited patiently in the hallway for Shanxi to come to the door. He was beginning to wonder if perhaps he'd interrupted something when the panel finally slid open to reveal the slightly disheveled young woman.

"Something going on in there?" he asked her as he glanced into the room over her head.

She shook her head and smiled.

"Oh, no, I just-" she began.

Shanxi's eyebrows drew together thoughtfully and her posture straightened as she focused intently on his face. The turian looked back at her curiously before realizing the cause of her hesitation.

"Are you alright?" she asked before he could explain.

"Fine," he replied, "Had a fight with a volus. Very brutal."

She idled by the door a moment before moving out of the entrance and gesturing him inside. The young woman crossed the room silently to pull his pass out of a drawer in her desk. Ayuda followed a few paces behind. After drawing out the plastic card, she turned around to face him, but made no move to offer it to the turian. Her mouth twitched tentatively, as if she were about to say something that was difficult for her.

"Removing your clan markings isn't something you should be flippant about, you know," she said with concern, "Going around like that will make a lot of people here angry."

Ayuda bristled at her words. They made him feel like a child being chastised for his bad behavior. All he wanted was to put some distance between himself and his memories, and already he was coming under fire, from one of the most passive humans he'd ever met no less.

"Let them be angry," he replied, snatching the card from her, "Turian society shut me out a long time ago. I'm a fool for taking this long to realize it."

"Shut you out?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Not if you don't tell me anything," she replied sympathetically.

He felt a low droning growl of annoyance begin to rumble in his chest. The woman had never reproached him before, even on the docking bay when he'd threatened the crew of the Red Admiral. He hated that she would have to be difficult now, when he was intent on severing ties with the people who betrayed him. It had nothing to do with her and he wished that she would just drop the matter.

"I don't want to talk about it, Shanxi. I didn't press you about the Alliance, please don't press me about this."

"Alright, but I want you to know that while I may not understand your trouble, I don't see how going out barefaced can do anything to help it. You can't just wipe away who you are, and you probably shouldn't."

"What if you aren't happy with who you are?" he snapped, "With what life has forced you to be? If your only options are to live a lie or turn your back on it, which would you choose?"

She stood quietly, fidgeting, before granting him a weak response.

"But your clan is your family," she said.

"My family is the reason I'm in this mess!" he roared.

The woman retreated a step at the sound of his voice, eyes full of worry, but he shook his head in disdain.

"I told you that you wouldn't understand," he said, "You work too hard to fit in here. No one would ever doubt you."

"What are you talking about?" she asked in confusion.

"I'm talking about your _perfect_ record, and your _perfect_ behavior," he retorted hotly, "Your perfect _everything_! I bet that's why you didn't join the Alliance isn't it, Shanxi? Too good for your own people?!"

He slammed his fists on her desk in anger, and the woman jumped back in fright. A picture frame toppled from the desk's edge and shattered upon the floor. The sound of it sobered Ayuda, and he could feel a wave of paralyzing shame wash over him. Meanwhile his partner huddled in the corner near her bed anxiously, brown eyes wide with wariness. Ayuda's throat constricted, and he struggled desperately to make an apology.

"I- I'm sorry, Shanxi," he choked, "It isn't…. I mean I-"

"Please leave," she said.

The words struck Ayuda like a hammer. Shanxi's voice was level and steady, but the slight tremble in her lips told him he'd hurt her. The turian knew better than to mistake her decorous words for a request, and he bowed his head before stooping silently to pick up the pieces of broken glass.

"I will clean it up myself," she interjected, "Just go."

Ayuda stood again, fighting the urge to attempt another apology, but the glistening of her eyes and Jacoby's earlier insight warned him away. Trying to explain would require him to share his history, and the burden would only make things harder for her. He cursed himself for letting such a simple comment provoke such a violent reaction in him, and he wondered with dread at how deep a swath he'd just cut between himself and his partner.

He bowed his head again and exited quietly. When he'd made it a few feet down the hall, he heard the sound of her door locking shut behind him, it's message as poignant as the one on his face.

.oO--Oo.

When Ayuda had completed the painful and lonely circuit back to his room, he immediately went to the cabinet where he kept the potent painkillers he'd bought off a petty thief in the lower wards. He pulled his cowl away from his face and neck along the way, carelessly letting it drop to the floor in a forlorn heap.

Carefully, he measured out the appropriate dose in a syringe and sat it on the bathroom counter next to the little glass vial. As he worked at removing his suddenly uncomfortable armor, he couldn't help catching sight of his bare, black face in the mirror. He hadn't always been so battered looking, but years in the turian military had taken care of that.

Ayuda gripped the sides of his face with his hands as white hot fury burned into his brain. He felt like such a fool for what had happened. For watching, helplessly, as his squad went down one by one, all because of a lie too well disguised for him to recognize it until it was too late. For the faith he'd once had in the hierarchy. The deception made him question himself, it made him question everything.

With a growl of rage he grabbed the glass bottle and threw it against the wall, where it splintered into tiny, razor edged slivers. He dropped the syringe into a trash chute as the clear liquid ran in thin rivulets down the wall like rain.

It wouldn't matter whether he suffered this night or not, there'd still be hell to pay in the morning.


	9. Chapter 9

**One Eye Open - Chapter Nine **

The hour was early when Executor Pallin began his trek to C-Sec's detainment quarters. Subordinates scurried out of his way as he passed briskly through the halls, with an invisible yet undeniable cloak of scorn following in his wake. He'd already been awake for hours, plotting the course of his private crusade, yet he wasn't fatigued in the least. In fact, it was as if he'd been transported back in time by a couple of decades to his rookie years, and all of his diminished vitality had been returned to him. A salarian aide jumped out of his way just in time as the turian cut a sharp corner, causing the unfortunate pencil pusher to scatter a stack of meticulously scrawled paperwork. The Executor heeded none of this, though, his mood was already being soured by thoughts of what once was.

Things had been different then, when he'd first come to C-Sec. Men had known the value of honor, of decency and discipline. But now it seemed as though those were fading ideals. Despite all of his efforts, he found himself worrying that C-Sec was rotting from the inside out. Everyday he saw more and more failures drop out of their ranks, or be booted out, only to be replaced by even bigger mistakes. The Executor was a dying breed, and he knew it, but his pride forced him forward with the same zeal that it always had, for it was his deeply held belief that indifference could kill a man. Or get him killed.

When the Executor entered the foyer of the Fourth Division, Alanna, the asari secretary, was already up and on her feet, obviously alerted to his pending visit. The woman knew Pallin's habit of parading across the precinct without stopping for anyone, and despite the rush of raw emotions rolling off the man, she dutifully followed a few steps behind him when he passed.

"Good morning, Executor," she said in a respectful tone, trying her best to match his swift pace while maintaining a professional air, "How can the Fourth Division help you this morning?"

"Do you have my suspect ready for questioning?" Pallin asked her.

"Yes, sir," she replied as she trailed along behind him, "He's in green room one."

"Good. I want the recordings on and an officer outside in five minutes."

"Right away, sir."

Pallin paused for a moment before the dull colored door to the interrogation cell, wishing one last time that the events drawing him out of his semi-retirement from active duty were different. Still, he wasn't about to let the Council send in a Spectre to poke and probe into his territory, so he'd chosen to handle the matter himself. He took a deep breath and tucked a data pad under his arm before entering the security code into the wall panel.

The door slid away to reveal a jittery, gray and green speckled salarian seated at a slightly worn table. His thin fingers drummed it's scuffed surface, and his feet tapped the floor without rhythm. Huit peered from the corner of his eyes at the turian in fear, then glanced away, as if Pallin would simply disappear if he didn't look at him. Unfortunately for him, the turian was more than just a bad dream.

"Huit…" Pallin hissed with disdain as the door locked into place behind him. He stalked over to the table slowly, and he could see the salarian winding up more and more with each step. There was no escape now.

The Executor stopped when he reached the edge of the table, but instead of sitting down, he simply stood there, with the heavy white lights in the ceiling drawing out the silhouette of his already impressive form. He began slowly, calmly, hoping to lull the salarian into a false sense of safety.

"I'm very disappointed by what has occurred here," he said evenly, placing the data pad that held Shanxi's report onto the table, "You were a good officer once, Huit. People here respected you. When I received this report, I didn't want to believe it, yet the surveillance videos leave no room for doubt."

"Now, I know you aren't stupid enough to risk a venture like this on your own, and frankly, even if you were, you don't have the guts to go through with it. So, I want you to speak plainly with me: who put you up to this?"

The salarian fidgeted, and tapped the ends of his fingers together.

"N-no one…" he lied meekly.

"Stop wasting my time, Huit," Pallin replied, raising his tone and eye ridges slightly, "You're the inspector for that docking bay, which means you would have known what was on those ships and where. If you had wanted to lift something you could have been in and out without drawing any attention."

Huit just looked away, mumbling to himself, while Pallin grew agitated. He leaned across the table and shouted at the salarian.

"You had a gun! You could have killed two of my officers! You're going to tell me what's going on here if I have to stand here all day!"

"I didn't know they were there! I was afraid of-of…"

"Of _who_?"

The salarian wrung his hands and pinched his eyelids together tightly over the dark liquid orbs.

"I-I'll tell you," he squirmed, "But you have to protect me!"

Pallin eased back into a standing position and nodded with satisfaction.

"I can put you on a detainment ship off Citadel, but I'm not letting you leave airspace until I can confirm the details of your story, understood?"

"B-but-"

"You have two choices, Huit: tell me who you're working with and what their plan is, or spend the rest of your days cranking out ship parts on a penal colony in the ass end of nowhere!"

The salarian's face broke, and he babbled a bit to himself in a childlike voice before growing quiet. He rested his head in his hands for a few moments as he tried to regain his composure and explain the events leading up to the night in the docking bay.

"It started a few months ago. I-I got into some debt, gambling, and I couldn't afford to pay back what I owed…"

"So, you took a bribe to look the other way for smugglers?" Pallin accused with disgust.

"N-not at first! I tried to take on more hours, cover more ships, but oh, I was exhausted! What little extra money I was making working overtime I had to eventually spend on stimulants just to stay functional. Meanwhile, my debt kept growing. I had to do_something_…"

"And it never occurred to you that working with criminals would cause more problems for you than it would solve?" the turian ridiculed.

"But that's just it! I knew other officers that got away with it! I thought I could, too… So I let things slide, and then one day I was contacted by a man. He wanted more than for me to just ignore his operations. He wanted my help."

"With what?"

"He asked for clearance codes to parts of the Wards, and he wanted me to act as a go-between for him here on the Citadel. I was supposed to pick up things from his people and transport them, no questions asked."

"You're a fool, Huit," Pallin growled, "But you better get to the part where you explain your actions breaking into that bay, and _quick_."

"I-I lost something there. One of the deliveries..."

"Keep talking."

"I had picked up a package from a man earlier in the day, but I got called in to run an inspection. By the time I had finished my rounds, I'd lost the bundle I was supposed to transport. But I had to get it back! They'd kill me if they thought I was lying to them or working with someone else!"

"So, whatever this thing is you were asked to move, it's somewhere on one of those ships?"

"Yes…" the salarian admitted.

"Impossible. Those ships have been searched, and nothing was turned up that we haven't already traced elsewhere."

"You must have missed it. It would have been very small…the size of a capsule."

"A capsule?" Pallin repeated. He could think of few things worth smuggling that could be housed in such a small container. The items found on his short list of possibilities did nothing to comfort him. "You have no idea what this was for?"

"N-none," the suspect squeaked. He could feel the climate of the room changing, and a tingle of fear crept up his back. "A man is supposed to arrive on the Citadel in two weeks to pick it up. I didn't know what else to do…"

The Executor pushed the data pad in front of the salarian roughly.

"I want all the info you have on the people you're working for. What ships you let pass, when your pick ups where made, where they went, _all of it_. I also want the names of the officers you mentioned acting outside the law."

Huit began typing on the small keyboard nervously, while the Executor paged Alanna over the com on the wall.

"Get an officer in here to take his statements," Pallin ordered, "And page Officer Shanxi, I need to speak with her."

"She's just arrived, sir, with a suspect from the med-clinic," Alanna replied, "Shall I send him to booking with another officer?"

"Yes, then have her wait for me. I'll be right out."

"Yes, sir."

Pallin stood guard over Huit for a few minutes until another turian entered the room. The Executor gave instructions to have the salarian's information sent to him as soon as it was completed, as well as to have the man moved into lock-down off Citadel. Pallin then exited while the other turian took up his place looking over the skittish suspect.

When he finally reentered the foyer, he found Shanxi waiting patiently. She stood at attention as he walked up to her, trying to hide her surprise at finding him in full battledress.

"Get your hard suit, girl," Pallin grumbled, "We've got work to do."

The human almost did a double take. The Executor wanted her to work with him? The thought was unreal. Despite her curiosity and trepidation at this prospect, she remained calm enough to remember her prior obligations, and the weighty choice her partner would have to make today.

"But sir, Ayuda and I have a meeting this afternoon with Detective Chellick," she worried.

"Let him go, I need you with me."

"Are you sure that's-"

"Shanxi..."

The woman nodded reluctantly then turned on her heel to head for the locker room, but both she and the Executor stopped when Alanna called out after them.

"Officer Shanxi, there's a man on the com about the ship you had impounded," she said, "There's something wrong with it…"

.oO--Oo.

Ayuda hated waiting. For nearly an hour he'd been sitting on a bench in the locker room, restless and alone, save for the occasional coming and goings of a few stray officers. He knew that Shanxi would be arriving soon, and he awaited the encounter with dread. Every time he heard footsteps in the hall, he jumped anxiously to his feet to recognize her, only to be disappointed. Or was it relieved? He was too tired to tell. As the clock on the wall ticked past seven, his head began to nod, but when his chin touched his chest his turian training made him jerk right back into a ready position.

The throbbing in his leg the previous night had forced him to turn over so often that sleep had been practically impossible, and around six that morning, he'd finally given up on trying. Somehow, he'd managed to drag himself out of his disarrayed bed and into the bathroom where glass still littered the floor, mocking him for his bad behavior. He blinked his bleary avian eyes at the fuzzy image in the mirror, trying to recall everything that had happened. With a nauseating sense of guilt, he struggled to form the elaborate design of his clan across his face with thick paint. His hands shook as he did so, his whole body was wracked with exhaustion and the apprehension of facing his partner again.

He'd made a mistake last night, and now he had no idea how to fix it, if it could be fixed at all. Human emotions were a strange thing to him, especially _female_ human emotions, and what exactly passed as normal in the specie's relationships was also a mystery. On the job, things were simple: Pallin gave orders to Shanxi, Shanxi devised a method to carryout those orders, and in turn gave orders to him. Clear cut commands and assignments with obvious objectives he could work with, but off duty, the quiet, contemplative woman left him little to go on.

Now, he'd upset the young investigator, and the only way he knew to make it up to her was to fall in line with what C-Sec expected of him. He knew she had enough problems of her own without him making it worse. It wasn't her fault he was in his current predicament, and she'd only been trying to help him. He was about to start snoozing again when he heard someone coming down the hall. Ayuda went to the doorway eagerly, and almost knocked over a human in his haste.

"Mornin' Ayuda!" Jacoby exclaimed to the turian happily through a mouthful of food. The broad smile on the red headed tech's face showed he was completely unperturbed by being nearly run over. "They're doughnuts in the break room if you want one."

"Are you trying to kill me?" Ayuda mumbled grumpily as he walked quickly past the man and into the hall, vainly searching for Shanxi. Jacoby's face fell a bit at the unfriendly jibe, and he forced the rest of his breakfast down his throat in one swallow to make a hasty apology.

"Sorry, man. Wasn't meanin' to make you mad," the tech said. He watched quizzically as the turian stared down the hall for several seconds, then returned to the locker room and began pacing. "You look a little wound up this morning. Like you're about to go into battle or something…"

"I'm waiting for Shanxi."

"Oh. Well, I hate to say it, but Shanxi left for the med center a long time ago. I figured you were just gonna meet her there."

The turian stopped mid-stride and muttered something foul in his native tongue.

"Come to think of it, she was acting a bit off this morning, too," Jacoby observed, "Did something happen between you guys?"

"No," Ayuda said defensively, his yellow eyes darting around.

The tech eyed him skeptically while the turian wrestled with his emotions. In the end, he decided he would need the human's help.

"Yes…" he admitted after a long pause.

Jacoby just smiled in triumph and put his hands out in a placating gesture.

"Alright, man. Calm down," the tech said, "We can fix this. One of Shanxi's best features is that she's very forgiving. I gotta get some cables out of storage, but you can tell me all about it, okay?"

The turian nodded and followed the man down a flight of stairs towards a storage closet, hoping against hope that the spirited human's advice would be worthwhile.


	10. Chapter 10

**One Eye Open -Chapter Ten  
**

"What do you mean _there's something wrong with it_?!" Pallin barked into the com's handset, "That ship was moved less than twenty-four hours ago!"

His subordinates stood a safe distance away, watching nervously while the Executor paced in a tight circle by Alanna's desk. As the discussion progressed, they could see the turian was growing more and more vexed. Shanxi tried the asari with a questioning glance, but Alanna simply shrugged. The hangar employee hadn't mentioned any details before Pallin had snatched the phone from her, so she had no idea how the conversation was playing out on the other end of the line. Even so, she'd been at C-Sec long enough to know a storm was brewing. She gave Shanxi's hand a supportive squeeze and steeled herself. The human took the hint and did the same.

"_You better not be exaggerating_," the Executor hissed on the com. He took a few more steps away from them then stopped, back turned, and rubbed his temple with his free hand. "Fine. I'll be there in an hour. _Don't touch anything_."

The turian walked back to the desk and flipped the handset around so he could slam it into the holster on the com.

"Let's go, Shanxi," he said without elaboration. The human woman gave a retreating glance to Alanna before following her superior's lead. He was storming towards the locker room, and Shanxi found it difficult to keep up with him. An unfamiliar feeling seemed to tingle in the air around the turian, and it made her uncomfortable. When it appeared they were alone, Shanxi worked up the courage to question him about what was important enough to pull her off of her former assignment with Ayuda.

"Can I ask what this is about, Sir?" she managed between breaths.

Pallin stopped in his tracks so suddenly she bumped into him, but before she could make a mortified apology, he whirled around to face her. His expression was intense, and she felt trapped by the hand he placed on her forearm.

"Do you trust me, Shanxi?" he asked her bluntly.

"Yes…" she replied hesitantly.

"Then follow me and do what I say. I'll explain later."

The human just blinked. He released her and continued stalking to the locker room while she trailed after him, her cautious glare boring a hole in his back. She had no reason to believe the Executor would lie or lead her falsely, and she believed his morals wouldn't allow for it in the first place, but that didn't mean she liked being in left in the dark…

.oO--Oo.

When the pair arrived at their destination a few minutes later, the cloud in Shanxi's mind only darkened. Jacoby and Ayuda were there conversing quietly, and the prick of the latter's gaze upon noticing her made the young woman's heart quicken. She had hoped she could avoid this confrontation until the meeting with Chellick that afternoon, but nothing could be done for it now; she had to inform him that he'd now have to go to the meeting alone.

It was obvious as soon as they entered the room that seeing two officers idle wasn't making Pallin's day any better either.

"You two aren't paid to stand around!" he bellowed at them, "This is C-Sec, not a damn tea party!"

Both of the men snapped to attention while the Executor proceeded to pick them apart. Shanxi could only stand by once more, watching with sympathy as the older turian assaulted her peers with a barrage of insults and outrage. He sent Jacoby back to Networks with a smarting remark about the tech's hygiene, then tore into a haggard looking Ayuda. She spoke up only when she heard him question her partner about his absence from her suspect pick-up that morning.

"That's my fault, Sir," she said in her partner's defense, "Ayuda isn't due for active duty for another half hour. I just…thought I'd get an early start so we could focus on continuing the investigation."

"Good," the Executor grunted, being sure to give an accusing stare to the younger turian, "Would that all officers were as dedicated."

He motioned off towards Shanxi's locker.

"Hurry and get your things, girl. I want you down at the docking ring in fifteen minutes. We'll take a shuttle to the hangar."

She gave him a brisk nod and he exited. As soon as their superior was out of earshot, Ayuda turned to her with a masked expression.

"Good morning, Shanxi," he said softly with a slight nod.

"Good morning," she replied automatically, mimicking his gesture. Whatever she had been expecting during this encounter, his calm composure wasn't on the list. He seemed to relax a bit as she responded in kind.

"I didn't think you'd be awake so early," she said by way of apology for leaving him behind during her trip to the med center. Her brow furrowed a bit as she said it; already her perfectionist urge to resolve the situation has taken control, even though she wasn't the one in err.

"Neither did I," he replied. A weak grin complimented his attempt at humor, but she could see the exhaustion in his yellow eyes, and behind that, a small sense of betrayal coupled with shame. It washed away quickly, and he thanked her for defending him from Pallin's wrath.

"You're welcome. Still, I shouldn't have left you behind. I promise to keep you informed of my movements from now on," she assured him.

"No. I understand why you left. It hasn't been a comfortable morning for me either, and I think we both know that I should be the one apologizing, not you."

Shanxi's brown eyes dropped to the floor. His behavior the previous night had startled her more than anything. She'd met turians with a temper, and the Executor was among these, but she'd never seen them lash out as Ayuda had last night. It also hurt her feelings to have her sense of self-worth called into question, particularly when her feelings were often the exact opposite of the turian's accusation of self-appointed superiority over her human counterparts. As a people, humans intimidated her, as individuals, they confused her. Except Jacoby of course…

"I'm sorry for how I acted last night. There is no excuse for it," Ayuda continued over her silence, "But I need you to understand that I would never hurt you."

"I know," she replied glancing up at him.

"Do you? Because if roles were reversed, I'm not so certain I'd be ready to trust me after that."

"If I thought you were dangerous, I would have reported you to Pallin, but I don't believe that's who you are. Not really. I do wish you would tell me what is bothering you, though. I'm not a mind reader…but I know someone who is."

Ayuda waited to reply as he watched her hesitantly fish a sheet of folded paper out of a pocket in her uniform and hand it to him. She'd thought about what he'd said last night long after he had left, and a possible solution had come to her mind, but she wasn't sure how the turbulent turian would receive her suggestion. She watched him open it carefully.

"What is this?" he asked her.

"The directions to Devaki's. Sometimes, when I don't know my own mind, she helps me make right of things, and I believe she would be willing to help you, too. If you wanted it."

The turian's face revealed surprise, and he opened his mouth to reply but Shanxi cut him off.

"It's not an obligation," she continued with a tense fidget, "Just an offer. She may be my mother, but she takes her counseling very seriously, and she won't share anything with me if you don't want her to. If that fails, you could try talking to Chellick. Perhaps you are right about needing a turian to understand."

"I didn't mean to sound condescending about it last night," Ayuda replied rubbing his neck with his free hand, "I would like to tell you, it's just…complicated."

Shanxi nodded.

"That is why I talk to Devaki. She finds the words I can't."

The tension in the air seemed to dissipate with that, and Ayuda tucked the paper into a compartment along the side of his armor. She imagined she heard them both sigh in relief. In her mind, this discussion had gone much less smoothly.

"Thank you," he said to her after he looked up again, "I will consider it."

He sounded sincere, and Shanxi was satisfied.

"I'm glad," she replied with sympathy, "When you walk around with that much anger you hurt yourself more than anybody else."

After the space of a few more breaths, Ayuda spoke up again.

"So, I take it you're not making it to the meeting?"

"I'm afraid not," Shanxi replied with a frown, "Something has the Executor fired up, and he wants me to go with him to inspect the Red Admiral again. The hangar called just a few minutes ago and apparently they are experiencing some problems, even though he won't say what."

"Hmph. That ship's becoming a lot more trouble than it's worth."

"Yes, and the Executor's silence is giving me a bad feeling. The only time Pallin appears on a case is when something big is happening."

"Whatever it is, I'm sure you can handle it," Ayuda encouraged her.

She smiled briefly, before she remembered what Ayuda and Chellick would talk about in the afternoon.

"About the meeting," she began, "Chellick wants some assistance with his investigation into a place called Chora's Den. It's a bar in the lower wards that sees a lot of weapon smuggling and other activity; he's kept tabs on it for years. He believes that power is changing hands and he wants to get an officer on the inside so he can better monitor them."

"I see," the turian replied in a neutral tone.

"He wants you to be that officer," she finished, "It's a dangerous job, and I didn't think it would be fair of me to make that choice for you; not after only recently arriving. I wish I could go with you to hear the details, maybe then I could give you better advice, but as it stands, you'll have to make that decision on your own. Please think it through, no one would blame you if you said no."

"Has he done this sort of thing before?"

"Yes. Chellick has been one of C-Sec's top detectives and espionage agents since before I entered the Academy. He's very good, but Chora's is also very bad, so you shouldn't make your choice based on his experience alone. It is you who will be the one in fire, so it would be wiser to evaluate your own abilities and comfort level with what the job entails."

Ayuda nodded.

"If I can help you, then I will," he said, "I think I owe you that much."

"You don't owe me anything," she replied, "If you want to help, do it for the right reason: the safety of the people on the Citadel and elsewhere."

Before the turian could reply, a beeping sound came from Shanxi's omni tool. She glanced at it and her eyebrows pinched together.

"It's Pallin," she exclaimed, rushing to her locker to pull her hard suit from the tall side compartment. She removed her shoes and stepped into the suit, pulling it's reinforced plates over her shins. "Listen to everything Chellick tells you, he won't steer you wrong."

"Everything will be fine, Shanxi," her partner replied as she flustered into her armor. Shanxi had her suit all the way up and was struggling with the zipper. Chellick had said the same thing to her when she'd left the Academy last night, but somehow, hearing it from Ayuda brought her a measure of comfort.

She jerked when she suddenly felt a chill on the nape of her neck. Ayuda had brushed her curled ponytail aside and gripped the top of her suit with two talons. He pulled the suit taut and brought the zipper up the line of her spine with his free hand. The turian snapped the plating that hid the seam into place, then stepped back quickly as she shivered. When she turned around, he seemed worried again, and she realized it was because of the way she'd shied away from his touch.

"Your hands are cold," she explained, not wanting to make him feel any guiltier than he already did about the previous night's events.

"Sorry. I forget that humans are so thin-skinned…"

"It's alright. Thank you."

He looked like he wanted to say more, but he just rubbed his neck again.

"You better go, or we'll both be in trouble," he muttered.

"Okay. Remember, the meeting isn't until two, so you can go back to the barracks and get some rest if you need to. There are no pending duties, so no one will be upset. I'm not sure how long this business with the Executor will take, but I'll meet up with you again this evening at the latest, alright?"

He nodded.

"Good luck."

"And to you. Page me if you need anything."

With that, Shanxi grabbed her helmet and trotted out the door. She wasn't sure she would need it, but with the way Pallin was dragging her all over the place lately, it couldn't hurt to take it along.


	11. Chapter 11

**One Eye Open - Chapter Eleven**

After Shanxi left to join the Executor, Ayuda was in the locker room alone again. He collapsed back onto one of the benches and replayed their discussion in his head. Even though it bothered him that she'd left him behind, Jacoby had advised to simply let it pass. He claimed that working harder was Shanxi's response to stress, and it wasn't meant as a slight towards him. From the woman's self-conscious apology and ready promise not to act in such a fashion again, the turian believed it. He wasn't sure he believed her claim about trusting him, though. Maybe because he wasn't sure he trusted himself anymore.

He retrieved Shanxi's note from its compartment and unfurled it again. Trust or no, she did seem to want to help him; to reach the _point_ of trust, and for that to happen, he knew a better line of communication would have to be established. And that he'd have to learn to control his temper.

All of his raving during their argument must have made no sense to her. She probably thought he was a lunatic, just like his fellow soldiers had when his problems had first arisen months ago.

_Maybe I am a lunatic_, he thought.

The turian rested his head in his hands and his elbows on his knees. Unlike in the military, there were people here who wouldn't be biased against him; people who would listen, not simply sweep him under the rug of rank. He had already accepted help from Jacoby, but he wasn't sure he was willing to open his mind up to an asari matron. The asari's mind melding abilities might reveal more of himself than he wanted, and he wasn't sure how Devaki would react upon hearing how he'd treated her daughter. He of all people knew better than to behave that way towards a woman, regardless of race.

_You've wrecked your record and you're hiding the fact you're half crippled_, a voice criticized in his mind, _Do you want to add common cowardice to your list of baggage?_

"I am not a coward!" Ayuda exclaimed to the empty room with the same emotion as when he'd proclaimed his severance to the random turian the night before.

Despite his denial, he knew that's exactly what he was. Or at least, that's exactly how he'd been acting. What a fool he was to think he could just wash away his history. Shanxi was right; his problems would continue to plague him until he could learn to face them. She'd admitted to needing a hand up from someone else, so why was it so hard for him?

A quick glance to the clock on the wall told Ayuda he had nearly six hours on hand before the meeting, and his gut told him he shouldn't waste them sleeping.

.oO--Oo.

"When we reach the hangar, we will be met by an official from Internal Affairs," Pallin informed Shanxi as their shuttle whizzed through the portal leading out of C-Sec's garage, "A Council puppet; here to make sure I'm following up on this business with Huit. He will probably want to question you. All you have to do is answer him as you explained in your report."

"Sir, I'm confused," Shanxi puzzled in concern, "What's wrong with the Admiral? Why is Internal Affairs still connecting Huit to that ship if the amps were traced to Chora's?"

"Because he wasn't looking for the amps," Pallin told her grimly, "I doubt what he wanted ever made it off that ship…"

The cogs in Shanxi's head turned furiously while the sound of the shuttles engine hummed in the background. The white noise was the only thing filling the ominous void that had built up between herself and the Executor.

She'd never had to deal with Internal Affairs, but she knew Jacoby had a jarring encounter with them before. He'd fallen under their watch a few years back after some classified information had been hacked into from his work terminal. It was only after a drawn-out investigation that wasted both time and resources that he'd finally been cleared of wrong doing and allowed to return to C-Sec. Shanxi recalled that the internal agents never did resolve who had breached the database; at least, if they did, they hadn't publicized it. The whole affair had almost cost Jacoby his job, and he'd been suspicious of people in power ever since.

The investigator swallowed and looked out the window, trying to calm her racing mind, but this time it was no use. Her heart beat so fast it felt as it if would escape her chest and the seatbelt buckled across it. She watched as the Citadel reduced in size on the black horizon. The further they traveled from it, from her friends, the more her confidence bled out of her…

.oO--Oo.

It had taken Ayuda a half hour and a half dozen wrong turns to finally make it to Devaki's compound in the Presidium. He was surprised to see that while it was large, it was a relatively plain residence. Somehow, with the asari's occupation, he'd expected something grander. Two asari sentries stood outside the entry to the building, and upon his approach, they confronted him in a polite but firm manner.

"Greetings, turian. Do you come on business with Matron Tenari?" one of them asked.

"A personal matter," Ayuda explained, "I was…I'm here about her daughter."

"The Matron has many daughters," the other asari piped up.

"Not many that are human, I suspect," the turian said as he pulled out his C-Sec ID and handed it to the first sentry, "I work with Shanxi. She gave me the directions to get here."

The asari glanced at each other, and the first one radioed something on her com in a language he couldn't understand. The turian heard his name mentioned, but that was all he managed to make out. Shortly, a disembodied but gorgeous voice made a reply, and the guard nodded.

"The Matron will see you, Officer Ayuda. Please follow Bela."

The airlock opened and the second sentry beckoned him inside. Once they were through the portal, she led him down a well-lit hallway that was silent save for the sound of their footsteps.

"I hope you do not take offense at being escorted," Bela said cordially, "Matron Tenari keeps many students here, and we are charged with their safety as well as her own."

"I understand your position," the turian said appreciatively.

As they walked along, he thought he saw whispy-thin silhouettes pass by the open doorways along the hall, and heard girlish giggling from the conjoining rooms. When the hall finally opened up into a spacious foyer, they found Devaki was already waiting to receive him. Bela gave a bow to the elder asari then retreated from the room back to her post. Ayuda was paralyzed in his tracks by a wave of uncertainty, but before he could change his mind, the regal woman greeted him with a warm, affecting smile.

"Welcome, Ayuda," she said in a voice like clear skies and still water, "I am very pleased to make your acquaintance. It is rare that I have the opportunity to meet the people my youngest daughter spends her days with."

"I…um," he faltered.

A chorus of giggles flitted through the air from somewhere behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and the light laughter doubled itself. Devaki's smile deepened.

"Please forgive my students. We do not receive many male visitors."

"I see," he said awkwardly as his mandibles flared. After spending most of his life on a ship with other male turians, he felt a bit embarrassed by all the female scrutiny. He was suddenly sorry for pestering his partner in the elevator the day before.

"Shanxi notified me that you might come, and told me why," the Matron continued gently, "As such, I'm sure you'd be more comfortable continuing our discussion in a room away from prying eyes and ears. Please come with me."

She gestured gracefully towards a set of double doors and waited for him to cross the room so they could enter together. It lead into a smaller chamber laid out with comfortable chairs and a window looking out onto the artificial lake at the center of the Presidium. Ayuda took a seat on a couch when it was offered to him, but he couldn't make himself relax. That Devaki chose to sit right next to him didn't help the matter.

"You have come because you are troubled," the asari ventured, trying to make it easier for him by voicing what he could not, "You are scared. Not of me, but of how you think I will perceive you. Of what I might find hidden in your heart and in your head."

The turian only nodded. It terrified him how well she could read his emotions. Devaki laid a hand on his and faced him with large blue eyes.

"We all have secrets, Ayuda," she comforted, "Even Shanxi, even me. Our pasts are important because they have shaped who we are today, and we should not forget them, nor should we use them as a convenient excuse to overlook the present. You should not continue to suffer so from what cannot be undone."

"How does this work?" he asked cautiously. Despite her kindness, he still wasn't sure he liked the idea of what Devaki was going to do.

"The mind-meld is very simple and only requires a physical touch. Many memories, feelings and ideas can be conveyed through this bond in a short time. It will allow me to experience what you have experienced, in exactly the same way. After you have shared what troubles you with me, we can discuss the matter, and I will try to give you counsel."

"Does it hurt?"

"No. You may feel a sensation akin to vertigo at first, but after that is over, we will be of a single consciousness and you may guide your thoughts to me at will."

"And you've done this sort of thing before?"

"Many times. It is my people's greatest gift, and I offer it to you. I only wish to help."

Finally, Ayuda nodded. He almost jerked away when Devaki brought her hands up to his face, but the woman's warm demeanor melted away his fear. The asari's hands were pleasantly smooth and cool enough to send a slight chill through his thick skin. They lightly traced the ridges over his eyes and the spikes along the top of his head. One of her thumbs grazed the broken part of his chitin crest and the corners of her fine mouth drew down in sympathy.

"Sometimes the greatest wounds are those that cannot be seen," she said softly, "Be at peace, Ayuda. Embrace eternity."

Devaki's voice was like a lullaby, and Ayuda's eyelids began to feel heavy. A tingling sensation that originated in her palms began to spread from his temples to the rest of his brain. He felt lightheaded, and the tingling made his whole body shiver. After a few moments, the fog began to clear, and he felt the presence of another in his head.

_Tell me your tale, Ayuda._

Behind his closed eyes stirred several images as he considered where it would be best to begin. They came and went so quickly that they began to fade before they were even fully formed. Sensations of calm and patience channeled into him from Devaki.

_Take your time_, her mind transmitted.

For some time, he wondered how to begin, and when he remembered Bela's words about Devaki's 'many' daughters, he knew he found his opening.

_The sentry said Shanxi has siblings…_Ayuda pondered.

_Three of them_, Devaki's reply flitted back. She sent him mental impressions of her daughters with intense and equal love.

_I have a sister, too_, the turian's mind echoed_. Tova. She's younger than me; pretty and smart, but very traditional, just like our parents. A few months before I came here, she met a turian who had taken a liking to her, and she to him at first. My father approved of the arrangement, and eventually gave them leave to marry._

Visuals of Tova and feelings of protectiveness charged the mental link between them. The turian woman was colored as her brother was, but she had a narrower face and softer eyes. While Ayuda paused to sort his train of thoughts, anger and frustration began to seep into the mix.

_This turian was a soldier in my squad. He was good at his job; had been in the military a few years longer than me and was well-liked by our superiors. I'd never had a problem with him or any other turian soldier until I got a call from Tova shortly after their marriage. She said he had started to treat her bad; that she was scared of him and she wanted my help. By that time, he'd been promoted and was overseeing other squads, so I couldn't confront him in person. I chose to leave port and help my sister, for which I received my first formal reprimand in ten years of service._

Sorrow filled the air between them then; Ayuda's sadness for his sister and Devaki's sadness for the impossibility of the situation. Tova appeared again in the turian's head; this time shaking like a leaf. Hints of violence and raised voices peppered his mental dialog.

__

I stayed with my sister for several hours, but her husband showed up. We had a fight, and I got transferred to my father's ship so he could keep me under his thumb and out of their relationship. I tried to tell him about what Tova had told me, but he said when he asked her about it, she denied it all. I don't blame her. Turian women don't have the same status as men, and she'd never do anything to go against our father and his ways. Perhaps it's better that way. If she had said something, things would have only gotten worse for her.

I didn't see either of them again for awhile, but the problems didn't stop. Some of the soldiers on my father's ship were aligned with Tova's husband, and they hounded me constantly for the beating I gave him. There were a few scuffles, and when they walked away with black eyes, the blame always landed on me. Things always roll downhill in the Hierarchy, always.

I couldn't see my sister and I was hated by my peers. As if things couldn't get any worse, one of our outposts came under attack, and two ships in the area responded to the distress call. One was my father's, and the other carried Tova's husband. When we arrived, his team had already scouted the area and he offered us information. I wanted to break his neck, but the outpost was more important, so I listened to what he had to say and then launched an offensive.

The burning rage that entered Devaki's mind then almost made her wince. In all her years of counseling through her melding ability, she'd never felt such strong emotions.

_We were slaughtered. The enemy was ready and waiting. They had almost a dozen biotics churning up the field around us. No mention of them had been made during the briefing, not a one, but he had to have known. You don't miss that many men! Not by accident. At best he wanted me to botch the mission and look like a fool, at worst he wanted me dead._

Ayuda's fear, not for himself but for his doomed squad, took over the link. The asari could hear the gunfire and the sound of Ayuda barking desperate orders. She saw the biotics flip a vehicle right onto him, and a lighting bolt of pain seared up her leg. Smoke, dirt and blood from the ripped carapace on the side of his head filled her mouth. The phantom pain from the wounds made the matron reel mentally.

__

I watched all of my men die; the few that were true enough to follow me and close their ears to my rival's slandering. I think I must have passed out, because I don't remember anything else until I woke up in a medical facility on another world. Through the few friends I have left, I discovered Tova's husband had brought in another team and pulled me out. I got a demotion and a shattered leg, and he got a damn medal. I was furious, and I raved to anyone who would listen about what he'd done, but I had no way to prove it. Everyone in my squad had died. Everyone but me.

The doctors had to replace my knee with an artificial joint and implant a support rod along my thigh. After it had it mostly healed up, my father came to me and told me he was sending me here, where I'd have to face the consequences of my failure. Where I'd be out of trouble. The ignorant ass even had the nerve to preach to me about learning to separate personal life from duty, when it was a personal agenda that nearly got me killed! He didn't care at all that I survived. Looking back, I wish I hadn't.

The Hierarchy is supposed to prevent these sort of things, but in the end, it's what allowed all of this to happen. No one would put my word before a turian's of higher rank, especially not after my reprimands. The Hierarchy failed. It failed Tova, it failed my men, it failed me.

Ayuda's mind quieted, and Devaki withdrew her hands, amazed by what she'd heard. He blinked his eyes open as she released him, and she saw a stream of tears had blurred the green paint on his face. The marred symbol matched perfectly with his mangled heart.

"Oh, Ayuda…" she breathed, unable even as an asari matron to put her grief into words. She opened her arms to him, and he leaned into them without a word. They sat this way for several minutes, with her stroking his face like she did when a young Shanxi cried.

"When I got here, all I wanted to do was return; my sister is still out there, and so is her bastard husband. My father won't see any of it, and I'm afraid more men will die. Besides, I'm a soldier. It's the only life I know. I have no other skills that make me useful. My life has come down to this," Ayuda told her.

Devaki felt him shudder as his anger evaporated. He had only enough energy left to leave her with one question.

"What happens to soldiers once they have been defeated?"


	12. Chapter 12

**One Eye Open - Chapter Twelve**

Dust motes swirled like tiny galaxies in the dimly-lit garage as Executor Pallin's small shuttle pulled into the busy hanger. The turian thumbed a data pad with a frown while Shanxi stared out her window at the human waving them in. To her relief, the only people on the docking platform were workers in greasy yellow coveralls. She strained her eyes to examine the other shuttles through the swirling debris, and found none of them were marked with the Councils sigil. She breathed a short sigh of relief. If an internal affairs official was coming, he hadn't arrived yet.

"I don't see any signs of an agent sir," she said over her shoulder.

"He'll be here," Pallin replied without taking his steel blue eyes off the data pads pale screen, "In the meantime, we need to figure out what exactly is going on."

Shanxi nodded as a high-pitched blip from the turian's omni tool signaled an incoming connection. Pallin allowed it with a few quick taps to the tools holographic interface.

"Go ahead," he said after the connection had been established. A deep and distinctly turian voice issued forth a reply, causing the interfaces light to pulse with his words.

"The salarian's statements have been sent and he is currently in the custody of two officers bound for detainment. They should arrive in approximately sixteen minutes."

"Good," Pallin replied as the file appeared on his data pad.

"Is there anything else I can do for you, Executor?" the voice asked.

"Not right now, but keep this line open."

"Yes, sir."

Pallin switched his data pad to hibernate as the engines finally whirred to a halt allowing the vessel to drift effortlessly into its lane. The shuttle gave a quirk lurch as the magnetic arms came down to clamp it into place, and Shanxi grabbed hold of her seatbelt in surprise. The turian shook his head at her and scoffed slightly as she self-consciously pushed a dislodged lock of hair back behind her ear.

"Relax girl," he scolded in a low voice, "If you're this wound up when the agent gets here, it won't go well for either of us. You need to stay calm. I expect you to keep this interrogation under control."

"Yes, sir," she replied before she glanced away with a small frown, "Sorry, sir."

Pallin studied her silently as a metal walkway ramp extended to the ships airlock. He gestured her ahead of him when it opened with a windy whoosh. After they'd both unfolded themselves from the tiny transport, the human Shanxi had seen waiting on the passenger platform hurried up to them.

"Executor Pallin," he said offering his hand to the turian, "I'm glad you're here, and might I say it's a pleasure to-"

"Just show me the ship," the turian interrupted, ignoring the man's outstretched hand. The human looked to Shanxi as his face turned red, and she shrugged a bit in sympathy. Even in four years of knowing the Executor, she'd never had the nerve to try to shake his hand. Occasional quips of ironic humor and job-related advice were as far as her familiarity with the man went, and those privileges had come only after her promotion to investigator. She watched with discomfort as her fellow human cleared his throat and tried to regain his composure.

"Uh, as you wish, sir. I've evacuated and sealed the Admirals compartment, but you can still see the damage from the hall," the man human explained admirably, "No security cam in that garage, but my boys tell me it's been getting steadily worse since they found it this morning…"

The hangar manager then took off down a series of corridors towing Pallin and his investigator behind him. He tried amiably to make conversation, but Pallin's noncommittal commentary quickly discouraged him and soon there was nothing between them but silence.

As they walked along, the chill in the air served to sharpen Shanxi's racing mind. Impound hangars were always cold due to the constant intake of air from empty space, and the temperature was already creeping through her thick hard suit. The dull lights above them flickered weakly as the group traveled through the narrow passageways, and the tormented groaning of old metal echoed towards them from a maintenance room somewhere deeper in the station.

Through the large plexi-glass windows that lined the hallway, she glimpsed dozens of abandoned vessels hanging lifelessly from their airborne anchors. She knew that in time, they would be auctioned off or destroyed for scrap. A particularly wily quarian could convince C-Sec to turn over a vessel in exchange for information or use of their specialized technical abilities every now and then, but such instances were becoming increasingly rare. Shanxi thought it was a sad thing more of the ships couldn't be saved. Their empty metal husks somehow made her heart hurt.

After taking a few turns and descending a single stairwell, their host gestured towards a window on their right. It was dark inside the room on the other side, but the officers approached the glass anyway.

"Give me a minute to switch on the lights. Power panel is just around the corner," the man said before disappearing back down the hall.

Pallin gave an annoyed grunt, but said nothing as he waited with his subordinate. Shanxi leaned into the window panel curiously and shielded her eyes from the glare of the ceiling lights above her with cupped hands. She was about to give up on trying to determine what laid beyond the blackness when it was finally banished by the flash of overhead lights. What they had suddenly revealed made her jaw drop.

The Red Admiral had fallen free of its magnetic buoys during the night and crashed like a dead thing onto the garages floor; littering the ground with bits of metal and loosened parts. A huge hole big enough to drive a truck through stood like an open wound in the ships underbelly, and the bright paint retreated from its rough edge as if in decay. The Admiral had deteriorated from the inside out; had been ripped open like one of the silken cocoons of the butterflies for which it was named.

"Is that the same ship you had impounded, Shanxi?" Pallin asked her in an uncharacteristically grave voice. The young woman stood stunned, unable to take her eyes off of the ill-fated Admirals sad remains.

"_Is that the ship_?" the turian repeated when he received no answer. His firmer tone rang a warning bell in Shanxi's head, and it was enough to snap her out of her momentary shock.

"Y-yes sir," she stammered finally, "But it was nothing like this! I swear I-"

"I believe you," the turian cut in, silencing her. He stood staring at the wreck with an intensity that rivaled her own, and a shiver ran up Shanxi's spine. Something was very wrong, and she was beginning to get the idea that this was no accident.

"Have you seen this before, Executor?"

"Once," he replied distantly, "But not on the Citadel; when I was in the military."

"The military?" she echoed, face pinching in concern. Her eyes traveled back to the ship, and she began to sweat despite the cold. "But there are no burn marks, or-"

"Stay here," he instructed her, "Keep everyone out of this room. I need to put in a call to hazmat-"

"Save yourself the trouble," someone interrupted from the doorway, "It's already been taken care of."

The Executor turned sharply and instantly narrowed his eyes at the newcomer. Shanxi stepped around him to get a look at the owner of the oddly familiar voice, and her heart leapt into her throat at the sight of a tall turian with plating that pearled like the inside of oysters.

"_Spectre…_" Pallin hissed at him with an acid edge.

_Carrick… _Shanxi's mind added.

.oO--Oo.

"Does Shanxi know about any of this?" Devaki asked Ayuda once he had calmed down enough to withdraw from her comforting embrace. He now sat on the far edge of the couch, looking out the window with a vacant expression. The matron waited patiently beside him, hoping that she could find a resolution that would help heal the turian's wounded soul.

"No," he replied, "She knows I was transferred from the military, but nothing more than that. I don't see any reason to bring it all up again when there's nothing to be done about it. It would be impossible for me to leave the Citadel without my father finding out, and I don't want to cause more problems for Tova. I'm not sure I want to go back to soldiering anymore anyway. I see how happy Shanxi is here, and I want a part of that happiness, not more lies and leg wounds."

"What of your injury?" the asari asked in response to his remark, "How have you been coping?"

He sighed and rubbed his leg.

"I haven't been," he admitted, "I got some stuff from a guy in the Wards to numb the pain. Shanxi knows I take the injections, but she thinks I got them from a doctor during my physical. I lied to her because I know she'd tell Pallin and I can't give him one more hard reason to get rid of me. If I lose at C-Sec, I'll have nowhere else to go and no other skills to support myself."

Devaki nodded sympathetically. The stress of adjusting to civilian life was a common problem among ex-military turians.

"It was wise to not tell Shanxi," she agreed, "I understand now why the Executor placed the two of you together."

The turian's face contorted.

"He's just like the others," Ayuda replied hotly, "Thinks I'm nothing but trouble; that I've lost my mind…" He swallowed painfully as he remembered the look on Shanxi's face after he'd broken her picture frame. "That I'm dangerous."

"You aren't dangerous, Ayuda. The only danger here lies with the man who recklessly sent your squad into an impossible mission; the man who makes your sister miserable." The turian clenched his fists and put his head in his hands at the asari's words. "You have been fighting alone for too long, and it takes too great a toll on you. I want to help you and your sister, but you have to tell me her husband's name and where he can be found."

Ayuda parted his heavy hands just enough to observe the matron with his bright yellow eyes.

"You want to report him?" he asked doubtfully, "To who?"

Devaki inclined her head as a modest smile graced her full, pale purple mouth.

"Though were not close, my lifestyle has allowed me the opportunity to meet many important people; not the least of which is your council representative."

"You know the councilman? Will he listen to you?"

"We shall see," the matron said calmly, "Politicians are a fact of life on the Citadel, but I have spent enough time among them to know a thing or two about their games. My battle to obtain rights of guardianship over Shanxi taught me many things about the system, and we can use that knowledge to our advantage now. Gaining an audience with the councilman will be the most difficult part I suspect, but once I have secured an appointment, it's only a matter of meeting two minds."

Ayuda understood. The asari could simply transfer the memories he'd given to her to the councilman. A spark of hope lit his desolate heart, and he prayed his mental testimony would be enough.

"If you manage to do this, I will be forever grateful to you," he said as he dropped his hands and straightened in his seat, "I am _already_ grateful."

She smiled and touched his cheek lightly.

"It is my pleasure, Ayuda," she said gently, "But I would ask you for a favor in return. I will do everything in my power to meet with the councilman and present your case as long as you promise to act according to standard and keep my daughter safe."

Before he could answer, the woman's fingers began tracing the green labyrinth across his face.

"_Do no harm_," she whispered, "I see the sorrow in your heart."

Ayuda understood her words, and nodded solemnly.

"I promise," he said softly. He had known he wouldn't be able to hide his most private and painful thoughts from her. Devaki smiled and took her hands back.

"Then I shall start my petition this afternoon. In the meantime, I want you to know that my home is open to you, so you may come and go as you please. Also, what has been shared here does not leave this room with exception to the councilman. If you wish Shanxi to learn of these things, I encourage you to tell her yourself."

"Except the part about the injections," Ayuda mused aloud.

"As for that, I have something that might help," the asari added, "Please come with me."

They both rose and Ayuda followed the matron into another room. The long sleeves of her soft, white gown trailed out behind her like wings, and the turian marveled at her grace. He imagined what it must have been like for Shanxi to grow up in this house, under Devaki's all-seeing eyes.

Their journey came to an end in a room that looked like some sort of pantry. Shelving and cabinets stood in neat rows along the walls; stocked full of boxes and bottles with unmarked contents. Devaki went directly to a particular cabinet and withdrew a small blue container. She closed the cabinet doors and handed the little pot to Ayuda. It amazed him that the woman could recall the exact location of a single item amidst all of the clutter.

"This is a salve used on Thessia," the matron explained, "It acts as a local anesthetic yet is mild enough for easy movement. It will not block all sensation as an injection would, but it will offer you relief while allowing you to stay in control. I'm afraid this is all I have on hand at the moment, but it would not be difficult for me to acquire more, so please let me know if it is needed."

"Thank you, Matron," Ayuda said humbly. The asari's generous gesture struck him as deeply as Shanxi's offer to see her in the first place. The woman waved away his thanks and led him back to the central hall where they'd first met.

"I understand you have a meeting to attend soon," she said, "So I will not take up more of your time, but if you could give this disk to Shanxi when you see her, I would greatly appreciate it."

She handed an OSD to the departing officer and he tucked it into the same compartment that held the directions Shanxi had given him earlier.

"Of course," he said.

Devaki sighed and clasped her hands together in front of her. She seemed almost sad.

"I'm sure she will have many questions," the matron continued, "Please tell her I have her answers."

Ayuda simply nodded and gave a respectful bow of his head. The matron said she would honor his privacy, and so he would do the same for her. Before he could lift his head again, the asari placed her hands on the sides of his face and stretched on her toes to kiss the top of his head.

"All is not lost, Ayuda," she comforted, "We will see your sister safely home."

.


	13. Chapter 13

**One Eye Open - Chapter Thirteen**

"What are _you_ doing here?" Pallin demanded.

"Isn't it obvious?" Carrick replied in an easy tone, "I'm here investigating this ship and its cargo, same as you."

Without offering further explanation, the unannounced Spectre breezed carelessly past the Executor and his investigator to examine the ruined ship in the garage behind them. He acknowledged the human with a careful glance once he'd moved beyond Pallin's line of sight, but otherwise made no move to suggest he'd shared a drink with her only two nights ago. As the human's eyes traced the sleek lines of his silver-hued armor and impressive collection of weaponry, she fought to recall the details of their conversation at the opera house.

"Spectres don't operate on the Citadel without good reason," the Executor argued, "You're supposed to be monitoring outlying Citadel space that the Council's other resources can't reach, not interfering with the organizations in its own backyard."

"It is not my intention to impede upon your investigation, Executor Pallin," the Spectre replied coolly, "But to _continue mine_."

He gave the ship one more glance over then faced the two C-Sec agents with his hands clasped formally behind his back. The jingling of his elaborate outfit echoed softly off of the room's bare metal walls.

"I'm here in response to some discoveries made while patrolling the outer colonies concerning a series of defective biotic amps. Amps like the ones your investigators recovered yesterday."

"What makes a few black market amps worthy of Spectre status?" Pallin asked doubtfully.

"The deaths of innocent people," the Spectre replied flatly, "I suggest you get those amps to a specialist and have them examined as soon as possible. What you'll find might surprise you, Executor."

"Are you saying they've been tampered with?"

"Just so. I believe the amps your investigators brought off that ship are part of a bad batch linked to the deaths of more than a dozen biotics in my domain. Mostly humans," he explained as he gave a nod of appeal to Shanxi, "Because they have been illegally acquired it is impossible for me to determine how many exist or to trace where they may have gone. I have, however, managed to follow where they are coming from, and the trail ends here. I hope you understand how important it is for me to locate where they are being manufactured so that I can shut this operation down. Unsuspecting people could be getting these implants as we speak. They're dead men walking."

"Why is this the first I'm hearing about this?" Pallin asked. The gravity of the Spectre's revelations had melted away the agitation that previously tinged his tone, and all parties in the room now stood at stiff attention in a small circle. For the time being, Shanxi too dropped her suspicions of the man and their strange encounter. They would all have to work together to find the source of the amps, and they needed to do so quickly before any more of them could be carted off of the Citadel and put to use inside unknowing people.

"I have only recently discovered the activity here myself," Carrick replied, "And I didn't think it would be wise to broadcast that kind of information on a spaceport made up of millions of people, a good portion of which are biotics. That could create a panic that would give whoever's behind this a chance to move their operation off of the Citadel, and it would take weeks to track them down again. So, I came here in person."

"Detective Chellick says the amps I found on the Admiral were being sold by a man working out of Chora's Den," Shanxi offered, "I doubt if he's involved with their creation, but he might be able to lead you to those who are."

"We're in the process of planting an officer to keep an eye on them," the Executor added with a bit of his hard edge returning, "But I warn you now, Spectre, running into Chora's and shooting up the place will have the same affect as making this situation public. People will panic and people will die. I won't put my officers or their work at risk over reckless brute tactics."

"That's why I chose to come forward today, Executor," the Spectre mused, "The Council will not permit havoc here, and I, as their instrument, intend to abide by their will. I ask only to be privy to the information C-sec may receive concerning these amps and would appreciate any other aid your officers might provide. I threw out a few feelers of my own when I arrived, but as of yet, nothing has come of them."

"Starling can give you access to our records," Pallin told him, "As well as put you in touch with my detective, but I can't spare any of my senior officers to help you. In case you haven't noticed, I have a disintegrating ship to worry about."

Shanxi opened her mouth to sputter a protest, but bit it back swiftly as a more important issue sprang to the front of her mind. She snapped to look at Pallin with a strained expression.

"Sir, I let the trainees on that ship," she said, "If there were contaminants present then Irena Hathaway and Tyler West need to be taken to the med center for examination immediately."

"It's not that type of contaminant, Shanxi," he informed her, "Nothing on that ship presents a biological danger to humans or any other race. I'm sure that the trainees, _like yourself_, are just fine."

"Oh. Right…" she mumbled a bit sheepishly. She'd ventured onto the ship as well, but her instincts as officer in charge made her think of her men first. Her cheeks flushed a bit, but Pallin simply turned back to the Spectre.

"I need to speak with my investigator before I allow her to leave with you," Pallin said in a voice that didn't allow room for argument. The pale turian nodded; a slight movement that sent tiny of rays of light shooting off the surface of his iridescent plating.

"Please do," he agreed, "Your haz-mat team should be arriving soon."

The Executor gestured Shanxi out the door with a wave of his data pad, and then closed the door behind them. He made a sweep of the hallway to make sure the skulking hangar manager wasn't around before speaking to his subordinate in a low whisper that made her spine tingle with apprehension.

"Listen to me, Shanxi," he began softly, "I can't allow for this Spectre to traipse through the Citadel as he pleases, but I don't expect someone with your level of experience to be able to handle him alone. When you return to the Citadel, I want you to get in contact with Chellick immediately and make him aware of what's going on. The Red Admiral is no longer your concern; I will deal with the ship and Officer Huit's actions myself, understand?"

"Yes, sir," she said.

"Spectres don't play by our rules, but they are still servants of the Council, so I want you to do whatever he tells you. However, if anything starts sounding fishy I want to be paged promptly."

"Yes, sir."

The Executor paused thoughtfully for a minute before running his hands down the side of his armor. "Do you have any sockets available on that suit?" he asked her.

Shanxi checked her interface and nodded, "Two, sir."

"Good," he said, handing her a plug he'd removed from a panel on the right side of his deep maroon body armor, "Take this. If that Spectre goes against my advice and gets you into a hot spot then you can consider C-Sec's service revoked. I want you to boost your shields and get out."

"What about civilians?" she asked with her brows knit.

"It won't come to that," he said as he firmly curled her fist around the power cell and gave her a hard stare, "_See to it._"

.oO--Oo.

Ayuda couldn't help but think of his sister as the lights flashed by along the public transport shuttle's route. The C-Sec Academy was too far from Devaki's home in the Presidium to walk, so he'd boarded a mostly empty vessel and been lucky enough to get a comfortable window seat to himself. From the moment he sat down, however, his thoughts were filled with concern for his absent sibling, and it was impossible for him to sit still. In fact, his constant fidgeting had drawn the attention of a young asari child riding with her mother.

Her round, wide face was turned towards from a seat two rows ahead, and her small hands gripped the back of her chair to keep her balanced. _So fragile, _Ayuda thought to himself. It was difficult to believe that the curious child in front of him could grow to be a deadly asari commando one day. He tried to smile at her through his exhaustion and gloomy thoughts, but her small pink mouth remained turned down in quiet sympathy, as if she could sense his thoughts like Devaki had. The turian was genuinely surprised then to see the little girl suddenly stick her tongue out at him in amusement. His face must have revealed that surprise, because she erupted in a fit of giggles.

After her mother gave her a light admonishment, she quieted and glanced back at him expectantly. Ayuda recognized the game, and not to be outdone, flared his mandibles at her. She squealed in delight and clapped her small hands. The officer chuckled to himself and a genuine smile crossed his face. He'd played with his sister in a similar manner before he'd reached the age at which such behavior became frowned upon.

The girl's mother turned to scold her again, and an automated voice announced the shuttle's next stop: C-Sec Academy. Ayuda sat up out of his slouch and shuffled to the edge of his seat as the small vessel began to slow. When the light above the airlock door flicked on, he stood up and walked down the narrow aisle to exit. He made one more face at the little girl as he passed, and she waved goodbye merrily. The turian stepped out of the shuttle in significantly better spirits than when he'd entered it, and was pleased once more to see his destination straight ahead. He'd assumed he'd have to walk a block or so, but the shuttle had literally deposited him onto the Academy's doorstep.

Several officers, mostly turian, milled about a moderately sized plaza dominated by an elevator to the Citadel's docking ring and a stairwell leading up to the Academy's entrance. Just opposite of the buildings airlock doors were a series of windows looking into the surrounding airspace. The lights of stars and ships alike peppered the deep black backdrop, and Ayuda thought he could see the hulking silhouette of the Density Ascension in the distance. After taking a few moments to enjoy the view, he reminded himself that he was here on business, and made his way up the flight of stairs.

Chaos greeted him as the airlock doors parted to reveal a mass of bodies pressing against each other in every direction. Phones and intercoms were ringing, computer keyboards clacked, and a cacophony of voices hung in the air like a toxic cloud. Ayuda stood dumbfounded by the apparent disarray until the airlock doors threatened to close on him. He took a few reluctant steps forward, and tried vainly to find some signage that would direct him to the detective's office. To his relief, a passing asari took note of him.

"Can I help you, officer?" she asked politely.

"I'm looking for a Detective Chellick," Ayuda replied.

She nodded as a man came up and pawed at her arm.

"Up the stairs there, second office on your right," she directed him before handing the man accosting her a data pad, "I already told you Mr. Fredericks, if you want to file a complaint, we need you to fill out these forms first."

The woman gave Ayuda an apologetic glance as she lead the man away. The turian was suddenly thankful that his position at C-Sec was an active one. If he had been assigned to work behind a desk, he wouldn't have lasted two minutes, much less two weeks. He followed her directions and cautiously approached the appropriate doorway. It was much quieter on the second story where civilians weren't allowed, and he could hear a deep voice speaking from just beyond the portal. As soon as it stopped, he straightened himself and entered. A bone white turian with chalky facial markings and enviable green eyes peered at him from across a broad, tidy desk.

"So, you're Shanxi's new partner," the turian said as he knit his talons and rested his elbows on his desk, "Well, you look worse than your picture…"

Ayuda bristled at the odd greeting, if such an off-handed comment could even be called such.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he growled.

"That you're good for the job, nothing more," Chellick replied, "I know who you are, and you know who I am, so I hope you won't think it rude of me to skip the formalities."

The detective waved to a chair.

"Please, sit down."

Ayuda stalked over and took his seat stiffly. The last time he'd been in an office with a higher-ranking turian, he'd gotten nothing but a lecture. He wondered if this one would treat him with the same lack of regard Pallin had. Fortunately, Chellick was too busy rifling through a file cabinet under his desk to take note of Ayuda's personal gripes, and by the time the detective had fished out a folder and dropped it on the desk in front him, Ayuda had managed to let go of his anger at the Executor.

"Take a quick look at that, if you would," Chellick told him.

Ayuda flicked open the folders front flap and as soon his yellow eyes hit the page he snapped it right back shut.

"_What is this_?!" he demanded in disgust.

"_That_ is the case file from one of my first jobs as a detective here," the white turian replied, "The girl's name is Stephanie."

Chellick took the file back and opened it again. He gingerly reached down and touched the photo of the battered human with his index talon.

"Kidnapping victim," he continued absently, his eyes taking on a faraway look, "It was a difficult case, and I eventually found her, but not before the sick bastards had burned half her face off with acid to make an ID more difficult. There's not a doubt in mind that if my team hadn't arrived when we did we would have found her body dumped and mutilated somewhere."

"She _survived_?" Ayuda practically whispered.

Chellick closed the folder and flipped around a frame on his desk. At first, the young woman in the frame bore no resemblance to the picture Ayuda had just seen, but then he recalled her eyes. Brilliant, ice blue eyes, set in a completely restored face.

"Medical science has come a long way," the detective said to him.

"Why are you showing me this?"

"To make sure you understand the gravity of what we do here at Citadel Security," Chellick explained, "And to show you how society suffers when we don't do our jobs properly. What I'm going to ask you to do is a dangerous job that could get both yourself and others killed if it's fouled up. Whatever games you were playing back in the military that got you in trouble in the first place won't be tolerated here. I'm sticking my neck out to give you an opportunity, Ayuda, but I need to know you're serious about the job, understand?"

Ayuda looked down at the folder and recalled the asari child on the shuttle.

"I understand."


	14. Chapter 14

**One Eye Open - Chapter Fourteen **

A team of bio-suited salarians filed into the hanger behind Executor Pallin as he watched the Spectre take Shanxi away on the level below. The sight of a stranger leading one of his own bothered him more than he cared to admit, but the girl needed to learn a lesson only time and experience could teach. He sighed into the cold hangar air and told himself it was for the best.

"Are you sure you should be letting her go with him?" a voice spoke up from a short distance behind his back.

Pallin recognized the familiar voice and shifted where he stood. The truth was that he wasn't sure about it, at least not completely. Letting Shanxi go had been a calculated risk; just one of many tough choices he'd had to make over the years as the head of C-Sec. He knew that the Spectre would be on a short leash and Chellick would have his eyes on the pair the minute they reached the Citadel, but like all men in power, he never stopped considering the consequences of his actions. That was a part of the job his subordinates never seemed to understand…

"Shanxi needs to learn to deal with difficult people if she wants to rise any higher at C-Sec," the Executor replied critically, "I can't have her excel in the field only to fall apart in front of Ms. Wong on the evening news."

"Why does that matter?" the speaker argued, "She's an _investigator. _Shouldn't you be more concerned about whether or not she can close a case?"

"It matters, _Garrus_," Pallin said sternly, "Because our image matters. C-Sec needs the publics trust to operate, and to gain that trust, we must present a face of stability and accountability. Of integrity."

The older turian clasped his hands behind his back and continued to peer over the railing at the two retreating forms.

"Shanxi has integrity; what she needs is gumption."

Garrus shook his head and caught a box as it fell from its precarious perch atop a load of equipment being lugged to the Admiral's hangar. He handed it off politely to a passing salarian before turning back to this superior.

"So," he said to Pallin, deciding it was best to drop the previous matter, "Are you going to tell me why I'm here or am I going to have to guess?"

"Did you get the files I sent you?" Pallin asked plainly.

"I did."

"Then you've seen the list of names among them," the elder turian continued, "These are officers Huit has implicated in illegal activities. I want their terminals, lockers and quarters searched; get a warrant for anyone living off barracks. If you find anything, bring them in."

"Taken care of," Garrus replied.

"And Garrus," Pallin added as he turned to face his subordinate, "Make certain you follow procedure. I can't have these men getting off on technicalities; they're a threat to this organization and everyone around them."

Garrus simply nodded as the Executor stalked off to supervise the salarians' tests on the Admiral. Once his superior was out of sight, the remaining officer walked up to the railing and caught the last fleeting glimpse of Carrick and Shanxi as they disappeared into a large ships airlock. He brought up his hand and adjusted the depth of the scanner over his left eye thoughtfully.

"Don't sweat him too much, kid."

.oO--Oo.

"There is no internal affairs agent is there?" Shanxi muttered as the Spectre stiffly guided her to back to his ship. Carrick seemed pleased she'd finally spoken to him and he looked over at her with a smile.

"Well, that depends on how you look at it," he replied, "I _do_ work for the Council, and I _did_ come here to ask about your last case."

"Not good enough," she replied flatly, "You lied to me, you lied to Devaki, and you lied to Executor Pallin. Do you know what he would do if he thought I had some kind of connection to the Spectres?"

The turian let out a slightly amused laugh as he pulled up alongside a double-paneled airlock set with thick, blue-tinted windows. He stopped in front of it and punched a code into a keypad set with characters Shanxi couldn't understand. Turian script, she guessed. The make of the ship the airlock belonged to certainly followed their sleek, minimalist model.

"With all due respect, Miss Starling," the Spectre replied evenly as he waited for the doors to open, "Don't you think that's why I lied in the first place? Pallin's distaste for the Spectre program is no great secret. Would you have met with me at the opera house if you knew I was one?"

"No," she said with a small frown, "Spectres are known for nothing but trouble."

A hiss from the airlock punctuated her remark and Carrick sighed, throwing off sparks from his shiny skin again.

"You were much less confrontational at the opera house," he observed.

"You weren't a _Spectre_ at the opera house," she countered, bringing her arms across her chest defensively. He ignored the comment and tried to wave her onto the ship, but she stood her ground stubbornly. When it became apparent she wasn't going to back down from the standoff, Carrick took a step towards her.

"Please board the ship," he requested calmly, "Those amps are still out there somewhere; we don't have time to waste."

Shanxi shifted nervously at his comment and uncrossed her arms. This wasn't how she'd imagined a Spectre; or at least, this wasn't how Pallin had always described them. With all the tales the Executor had told her, she'd expected someone more heavy-handed and commandeering. This strange-colored turian, however, was nothing but patient, firm, and polite. Despite his previous deceit, she found a part of her wanting trust him and his cool countenance. As his reminder of the job at hand calmed her down, she became aware of how childish her current behavior must seem to him.

"Will you at least tell me why you were at the opera house?" she flustered, "I came out here today expecting to re-examine a ship and speak with an internal affairs representative, not to find the Admiral falling apart and a Spectre waiting for us."

Her frown deepened and her eyebrows pinched together. "I feel like someone is playing a bad joke on me…"

Carrick laughed lightly, and Shanxi's ears found the sound to be free of her expected mockery.

"I've read your file, Miss Starling, and I can understand how this is upsetting for you," he replied carefully, "But if you will simply get on the ship, I will answer all of your questions."

Shanxi nodded slowly, then took a deep breath and walked through the portal only to find herself in a smaller chamber with yet another airlock on the opposite wall. Carrick followed closely behind her and tapped a button that slid the outer doors back into place before folding his hands in front him and looking forward blankly. The human became confused when the interior doors didn't open, and she was about to ask Carrick what was happening when a translucent laser started to pass along the chambers walls.

"Decontamination in progress," declared a synthesized voice from nowhere in particular.

Shanxi glanced up in surprise as the wall of bluish light approached them, and she felt herself begin to panic when she heard a soft whirring noise coming with it. Carrick noticed her alarm and immediately reached out for her shoulder.

"It's alright, Starling," he said in comfort, "It'll be over in a moment; it can't hurt you."

The human's eyes glossed over as the bright beam warped over the contours of her hard suit, and she put a hand to her chest as if her heart might stop. Carrick's words were lost on her as she fought for air through the pressure that speared her ribcage. The Spectre reached out to catch her in alarm as she took several unsteady steps backwards. He shifted her weight into one arm and punched the release button on the wall with the other.

The minute the inner airlock opened, Shanxi pushed away from him and rushed into the ship's interior where she collapsed next to a seat coughing. Carrick situated the sputtering woman upright and went quickly to a compartment marked with a red cross. He shifted through the objects within and drew out at small device with which he returned to Shanxi. He kneeled on the ground beside her and held it out.

"Relax," he said calmly, "Open your mouth."

Shanxi did so and took the inhaler between her teeth.

"Now bite down," he instructed.

She felt a seal break somewhere in the device and a rush of oxygen flooded into her lungs. Her body relaxed immediately and the fuzziness around the edges of her eyes retreated. She took several breaths and raised her hand to brush away a trail of sweat that ran down her face from her hairline. Carrick watched impassively.

"It reminds you of an MR scanner doesn't it?" he asked at last.

Shanxi nodded, still trying to catch her breath. He nodded along with her and frowned a bit.

"I suppose I should have anticipated that. Now you _really_ think I'm out to get you, don't you?"

She moved the inhaler away from her face and he propped her up so she could speak.

"I'm…sorry," she said airily. The turian cocked his head to the side and appraised her with grayish eyes.

"For what?"

"For…my reaction. That's not…very…professional."

"Heh. More people are scared of decontamination chambers than you might think, Miss Starling, and only a handful of those are people like you," he said softly, "Believe me when I say that I completely understand."

He turned away from Shanxi and waved his hand at the cabinet he'd just opened to retrieve the inhaler. The door closed on cue, and his meaning dawned on her.

"You're a…biotic," she whispered.

"Yes," he confirmed as she put the inhaler back in her mouth and listened attentively, "Biotics don't come any more naturally to my people than they do to yours. I had to undergo a lot of tests and training before finally be trusted with my own abilities, and, like you, they have left me with some unpleasant memories."

Shanxi tried to stand and he helped her into the passenger seat behind her.

"Is that why you look like you do?" she asked, her breathing finally returned to normal, "Is that what exposure does to turians?"

"It effects us in different ways just as it does humans," he explained as he contemplated the pearly scaled skin around his talons, "But in my case, yes, this is not a natural coloring."

Now that she had recovered herself, Carrick walked past her to the front of the ship and took his place in the pilot's seat. He began flipping switches and the engines hummed to life. A panel protecting the windshield slid away, and she felt the magnetic buoys detach from the sides of the ship. She'd never been in such a sophisticated vessel before, and she was impressed by several details of the uniquely turian design. What caught her attention most was an array of reinforced mirrors lining the ceiling above the flight deck; put there so the pilot needed only to make a quick glance upward to see what was happening in the ship behind him.

"This is a nice ship you have," Shanxi called to him.

"Yes, and it flies much faster than your shuttle," Carrick replied as he met her eyes in the mirror, "Please put on your seatbelt."

Shanxi did as he requested, and the Spectre drew back on his joystick. The human could see through the window that the ship had begun to pull away from the hangar, but oddly, she didn't feel even the slightest vibration underneath her feet.

"Exactly how fast can this ship go?" she asked curiously. Even though he didn't look up in the mirror, Shanxi could see a slight trace of a grin cross the turian's face.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he replied.

Shanxi accepted the response as a polite refusal of what was likely confidential information and settled into her seat for the ride back to the Citadel. Once Carrick's ship was free of the hangar, he put it into auto-pilot and swiveled around to face her.

"Your mother came here with a group of delegates right after the First Contact War, didn't she?" the turian asked, "They were hoping to find new ways to treat biotic cancer…"

"Yes," Shanxi replied as she pieced some information together, "Is that why you met me at the opera house? You think my history makes me more sympathetic to this case?"

"That's part of it," Carrick admitted, "Most people don't understand the dangers that element zero exposure poses to humans, turians, and other races where biotics are not naturally occurring. Exposed parties often experience severe health problems, whether they develop the nodes or not. For those that do, the implant surgeries make their medical histories that much more complicated. I would be lying if I claimed I don't take this business about altered amps personally."

"As for the other part…I simply wanted to know more about you. I learned from one of C-Sec's rosters that you and your partner would be picking up the job at the docking bay. I figured if you were any good at your jobs, you'd be able to locate the amps there and retrieve them without my help, but I needed to make sure you weren't one of the officers allowing the amps to be smuggled off the Citadel in the first place."

"So you tried to trick me into giving you confidential information about the C-Sec armors and other equipment," she finished.

"Correct, and for what it's worth, you answered well. Nothing you told me couldn't be found out by simply checking C-Sec's public spending reports. If an internal affairs agent had been here today, you'd have been just fine."

Shanxi smiled a little at the praise.

"However," the turian continued, "Your nervousness could make you look suspicious to an untrained eye. Physical tension, sweaty palms and absence of eye contact are all traditional indicators of lying. It takes an experienced person to know the difference between someone with a deceitful nature and someone with a sensitive one."

"Oh," Shanxi said with a slight flush, "How could you tell with me?"

This time the Spectre smiled.

"You didn't tell me anything you weren't supposed to for one," he explained, "And for two, you spoke to me with great regard about your work and those you work with. Your job seemed far too important to you to be something you'd risk over a few petty credits."

Shanxi nodded. "I still can't believe another officer was letting people get away with smuggling."

"It happens."

"It _shouldn't_ happen."

"Hmm," Carrick murmured after a span of silence, "You have a lot of faith in people, don't you Miss Starling?"

"I try to," she replied thoughtfully, "If I didn't have faith in people, then there'd be no point in doing my job. Devaki always says that to change something, you have to believe it can be changed."

"Wouldn't you also have to believe that you can bring about that change?" Carrick asked her.

Shanxi knit her eyebrows at his words, so the turian elaborated.

"For your philosophy to work, to truly have faith in others," he rephrased, "Shouldn't you first have faith in _yourself_?"


	15. Chapter 15

**One Eye Open - Chapter Fifteen  
**

"Welcome aboard, Ayuda," Chellick said heartily as he dropped a stack of papers onto his desk in front of the younger turian, "I've already had the proper documents drawn up and gotten Pallin's approval; all I need for you to do is look them over and sign on the line."

Ayuda spared a glance at the documents before eyeing the detective warily; there was something off about this turian. He wasn't impressed by Chellick's pushy attitude, nor the smug speech it came wrapped up in. This man was a little too smooth, and something about his body language told Ayuda the photo in the case file wouldn't be the first of the espionage agent's tricks.

"Why do I feel like I'm going to regret this?" Ayuda asked suspiciously, even as he drew the top paper closer to his side of the desk.

"You're free to walk away, of course," the detective replied, cleverly dodging the question, "Afterall, that's what Shanxi would have done."

"Would have done? You mean never asked her?"

Chellick leaned back in his seat and crossed one leg over the other; an action that displayed his prominent talons and suggested subtle, yet total, control.

"Shanxi doesn't have the presence necessary for this kind of job," Chellick replied as he clasped his talons across his broad chest, "She's young and female and too easily dismissed. No man who operates out of a strip club is ever going to take her seriously."

"Strip club?" Ayuda repeated, flaring his mandibles and narrowing his venom yellow eyes, "Is _that _what this Chora's place is? Shanxi just said it was a bar…"

"It is a bar - a bar with strippers," the white turian said as if it was all the same, "That's not going to be a problem for you is it?"

Ayuda flattened his mandibles and considered this new piece of information. His life in the turian military had been strictly regimented, filled with hours of drilling, exercising and equipment maintenance. What little leave time he was given he happily spent relaxing alone or visiting his sister, not getting drunk in the company of creepy exhibitionists at a dingy dive bar. With his lack of experience in such places, he wondered if he'd really be any better a choice for the assignment than Shanxi.

_Shanxi_, his mind repeated as he recalled the mental image of her that Devaki had shown him during their bonding. The promise he made to the asari echoed across his thoughts as well, and it made up his mind for him. A strip club was no place for his partner's sensitive soul. He looked up at Chellick with determination and fumbled with one last uncomfortable question.

"I don't have to…you know…_do business _with them do I?"

"With who?"

"_The strippers_…"

Chellick looked at him like he was daft.

"Not unless you want to," the detective replied to the unexpected inquiry, "The women are there for the customers, not the backroom employees. If anything, you should ignore them entirely. That's what the rest of the thugs who work for Fist do."

"Fist?"

Chellick straightened in his chair and tapped the papers pointedly, "Before I waste my breath on all the details, I need an answer: Are you going to take the job or not?"

"I'll take it," Ayuda declared gruffly as he reached for a pen. If the detective kept up this bossy attitude, it wouldn't be the job he'd have problems with. He scanned the case report briefly, then signed his name and station in turian script at the bottom:

_Ayudasesha Dresthi_

_Investigative Officer, 4th Division_

"Excellent," Chellick exclaimed, snapping up the sheet to look it over the second Ayuda's pen left the page, "I'm glad you're easier to convince than Venari was."

"Venari?"

"Pallin," the white turian explained, "The old goat's getting older, and his age makes him that much harder to deal with." Chellick slipped the papers into a folder and hid it away in his file cabinet, which he immediately locked by pressing a security code into its ten-digit panel. Once it was secure, he looked back up at Ayuda with a self-satisfied grin. "Now then, the details…"

Ayuda watched with patient alertness as his superior pressed a few keys on his computer, calling up a holographic display on the rear wall. Following a few more clicks, several profiles appeared against the holo-screens pulsing, pale-blue background. Chellick selected a file that belonged to a square-jawed human with a bad haircut.

"This," Chellick began as he gestured to the photo on the screen with a handheld remote, "Is Fist. Or at least that's what he likes to call himself. His real name is Christopher Wente and he's recently risen to power in a smuggling ring based out of Chora's Den. He's the man I want you to get close to."

Chellick got up from his desk and walked around to stand next Ayuda before continuing.

"He's been mucking about with low-lives from the Wards since he got here seven years ago. Theft, assault, smuggling; you name it he's done it, and he's stepped on more than a few toes in the process. He must have made a sweet little deal with someone to garner the influence necessary to take over Chora's. I'd also be interested to know where he's getting the funds necessary to keep around all the krogan mercenaries he's been seen with lately. That payroll must be enormous, and the Den sure as hell doesn't pull in that sort of profit."

"Krogans?" Ayuda repeated as he shifted in his seat, "How many krogans?"

"Hard to tell for certain - the alliances are still settling which is why I want to get you inside now when you'll be overlooked - but Fist usually keeps a couple at the clubs entrance for show then one or two real brutes by the backrooms. However, if my source is as reliable now as she's been in the past, there may be as many as a dozen krogans currently in Fist's employ."

The younger officer's mood soured. _Krogans._

There was no love lost between the turians and the violent clansmen they'd subdued years ago using bio-warfare. Where the turians were ordered and calculating, the krogans were chaotic and reckless. They were turian anathema, and the two made for some of the worst rivals in the galaxy. As a soldier, Ayuda realized that the krogans' mass sterilization was one wound that time could never heal; each passing day merely brought the dying race one step closer to extinction - and one step closer to the edge of insanity. It was the last part that worried him the most. The krogan of the Rebellions had been bold, but the krogans of today had nothing left to lose, and that made them outright dangerous.

Chellick must have caught on to Ayuda's bad air, because he suddenly broke the silence with a warning.

"Might I remind you that you're not going in there to fight these men," he said sternly, "You're going in there to _join_ them, and there's no way you're going to get to Fist without going through his bodyguards first. Whatever problems you have with the krogan, you need to put them behind you. The total war tactics you learned in boot camp won't work with criminals. If you push them into a corner they're damn near hard-wired to self-destruct, and sometimes they hostages with them, you understand?"

Ayuda turned to the detective and gave a sullen nod. Chellick nodded back before growing quiet and eyeing his subordinate thoughtfully.

"Do you know why I wanted you for this job, Ayuda?" he asked.

"Because a krogan would break Shanxi in half?"

Chellick allowed himself a small smirk at the comment, but retained his serious tone.

"I chose you because you've got something a lot of turians don't have - the ability to tell a lie. Sure you've got loads of weapon skills and a head for dangerous situations, but all turians old enough to be out of boot camp have those."

The detective switched off the hologram and sat as his desk once more.

"I chose you because you're different. You're adaptable and you think on your feet; these are important traits in an undercover operative because the fact is there won't always be a commander around to give you your orders. Most of the young turians I see pass through here wouldn't know what to do with themselves if left alone for more than five minutes. I needed someone with more initiative, more nerve, more independence, and after building up your psychological profile these past two weeks, I thought you'd make a perfect candidate."

"You've been profiling me?!" Ayuda bristled.

"What can I say?" Chellick mused shamelessly, "I value my students. I've taught them everything they know and they're the best of the best in my book. So, when one of them gets placed with a partner whose military discharge makes him out to be a complete nutcase, I like to take it upon myself to look into things…"

"Fair enough, but you could have said something earlier."

"No time. I've been too busy spreading rumors in the underground about a new mod dealer in town who's eager to unload his product. Fellow happens to be a turian which makes him much more reliable than a krogan crook and much more knowledgeable than a human hack-job. I believe he has black plating, yellow eyes, and walks with a limp he earned taking out a turian prison transport."

It took a few moments for Ayuda to realize who Chellick was talking about.

"Me?" he asked, suddenly aware that the detective had been banking on him all along.

"You," Chellick returned as he took on a more critical tone, "Though there are a few details that need to be taken care of before we put you into place."

"Like what?"

"Like the way you walk, for one. It may seem negligible to you, but the way you carry yourself is too typical of a turian soldier, and it's going to give you away. You need to loosen up and lose the march. Exaggerate your limp if you need to - it could even give you an edge. Afterall, if the men in Chora's believe you're weaker than you are, then they will be more likely to dismiss you as a threat, and the more willing they are to cooperate, the better."

Ayuda nodded and waited for him to continue.

"Also, I've thought up an alias for you and begun work on a fake profile to seed around the net, but I'll need a photo to make it believable and I can't use the one from you official profile for obvious reasons. We need to change your face."

"My face?" Ayuda asked in confusion.

"Your facial markings," Chellick clarified, "I hope you aren't too attached to them, because you won't be wearing them for awhile…"

Ayuda thought of the rumpled cowl on his bathroom floor, still stained with paint from the night before. "It's not a problem at all," he replied dully.

Chellick's intercom buzzed to life suddenly and the detective reached over to press the speaker button.

"This is Chellick," the detective answered.

"Detective, Officer Shanxi is here to see you," the receptionist's voice said before adding in a slightly softer tone, "She has a Spectre with her."

"Send them up."

"Right away, sir."

Chellick looked up at Ayuda with a positively impish grin.

"Well," he said, "Looks like things have just gotten a bit more complicated…"

.oO--Oo.

Jacoby sat his desk like a zombie, staring at a video he'd been watching for the past half hour. Every now and then, he would stop it and back-track a few frames, being sure to check the timestamp in the bottom corner. It was a video captured by the security cam in the 4th Divisions foyer earlier that morning, and what it had on it was causing the tech some serious concern. He put down his half-empty coke can and re-wound the digital feed a few minutes before calling over a co-worker.

"Hey Roberts, watch this clip for me," he said.

The other tech slid across the floor in his rolling chair to Jacoby's cubicle.

"Tell me what you see," Jacoby told him as he hit the play button.

"I see an idiot," interjected a third tech from a desk two rows behind them.

Jacoby grabbed his coke can and threw it at the dark-haired interloper.

"Shut up, sasquatch!" he spat back, "Nobody asked you!"

The other man swore as Jacoby's soda splattered all over him.

"Damn it, Jacoby! It's all over my keyboard!"

"Maybe you shouldn't antagonize him," Officer Roberts suggested as Hill stood up and shook out his shirt.

"I don't need your politically correct bullshit, Rob," Hill snapped, "He's not supposed to have food in here and you know it. It's against regulations."

"Tell it to the judge," Jacoby quipped.

The look on Hill's face said the fighting was about to escalate to more than just words, but yet another speaker interrupted them before a brawl could break out.

"If it's any consolation," the sweet voice said, "I think you're all a bunch of uncultured lack-wits."

The three men turned towards the asari standing in the doorway, and she smirked at how easily she'd gotten their attention.

"What are you doing down here Alanna?" Jacoby demanded as the woman made her way towards his desk. The other two techs crowded closer to him as well, ready to back him up if need be. None of them trusted this female intrusion into their traditionally male tech department.

"I came to warn you about the Executor," she replied, "Looks like he's getting ready to clean house again."

"You heard the woman," Jacoby said loudly, causing a few heads to pop up from nearby cubes, "Delete the porn and consider yourselves warned!"

The heads disappeared behind the low divider walls and a chorus of clicking sprang up.

"Men.." the asari muttered with a roll of her eyes, "Uncultured lack-wits, indeed."

"Says you, gold-digger," the red head replied as he made a dramatic display of picking his nose. It elicited a few chuckles out of his two companions, but the asari only sighed and went on her way. The asari could tolerate many things, but immaturity wasn't one of them.

"Good job, Jacoby," Roberts complimented, "By the way, exactly what am I supposed to be looking for on this video? All I've seen so far is Pallin parading around like he's got a stick up his ass."

"Nothing new about that…" Hill said snidely.

"Just wait a second," Jacoby told him, pulling his chair closer to the screen. Deciding he didn't want to miss out, even Officer Hill scooted a little closer.

"There!" the red-head said excitedly as the Executor came back into view with another officer in tow, "You see who's with him? _That's Shanxi_."

"So?" Roberts asked.

"So, Shanxi was supposed to have a meeting with Chellick today. She didn't say anything about going off-Citadel with Pallin."

"How do you know they've gone off-Citadel? The security cams only extend through headquarters."

"Because I checked the garage cams, too," Jacoby said.

"Oh, here it comes," Hill groaned to Roberts, "You just had to indulge him didn't you?"

Roberts held up his arms defenselessly while Jacoby fast-forwarded the tape.

"And look at this," Jacoby continued, jabbing the image on the monitor, "Pallin's putting his hands on her."

"He's right," Roberts said, zooming in a few degrees with the mouse, "Shanxi doesn't look too happy about it either…"

"I'm not listening to this," Hill said adamantly, "I may not like Pallin, but I find it hard to believe he's behind some mass conspiracy theory like the shit you cook up, Jacoby. Didn't you say Shanxi had some ship impounded yesterday? Maybe they're just going out to take care of that."

"Since when does Pallin handle impounding?" Jacoby replied doubtfully, "Nah. Something's going on here, and I'm going to find out what."


	16. Chapter 16

**One Eye Open - Chapter Sixteen**

Shanxi was relieved when the C-Sec receptionist directed her and Carrick up to Chellick's office. The Spectre had told her more about the case on their way back to the Citadel, and the first thing she'd suggested was to begin looking on the Nox ward arm - the only area on the Citadel with facilities sophisticated enough to produce biotic amps. Outside of tagging along on search and seize with him, she wasn't sure how else she could help the man. Pallin had sent her away with little direction, so she hoped Chellick would be of more help in devising a plan of action. When they made it up to the office, Shanxi was happy to see Ayuda and Chellick seated comfortably at the detective's desk. She'd been half-way worried she'd arrive to find her partner already dispatched to Chora's.

"Well, well," Chellick clucked as the pair entered his office, "I never thought I'd see the day when a Spectre would deign to pay Detective Chellick a visit."

"I only wish it were under better circumstances," Carrick replied, carefully side-stepping the detective's caustic comment, "I need to take a look at the amps your investigators recovered yesterday."

Chellick put a hand on his hip and eyed the Spectre thoughtfully before ignoring him in favor of his former student and fellow officer.

"What's going on here Shanxi?" he asked her. The Spectre cut her off before she could reply.

"I take it you don't like Spectres, either," Carrick mused, "The Executor seems to have a strong hold over his men…"

"That's not it at all," the detective replied with a smug tone and disarming grin, "You're just a bit…_long-winded _for my tastes."

Shanxi exchanged an uncomfortable glance with Ayuda and he gave her a nod of support.

"There's reason to believe the amps may hazardous," Shanxi spoke up, eager to avoid a confrontation, "Executor Pallin has ordered me to assist this Spectre in locating their source here on the Citadel." She turned to Chellick pointedly, "I thought you could help us."

"What do you mean 'hazardous'?" he asked.

"They've got a flaw that's been sending biotics into convulsions," Carrick explained, "A few of the victims have died, and many more may be at risk. If you still have the amps on hand, I might be able to learn something from them. The ones removed from the victims were too damaged to reveal much."

"They're down in evidence," Chellick told him, "But if you're looking for maker's marks, I can tell you there aren't any. I only managed to connect them to a dealer at Chora's through my contact there. Maybe you can figure out what's wrong with them, but as far as use in tracking, they're clean. No serials, no brands, no notable materials…nothing."

"I already suggested calling Division 21 on Nox to see if any of the labs there are active again," Shanxi informed the detective, "But I can try to get more information from the suspect I sent to the med-center as well. I wasn't able to question him before because he was put directly into detox, but I transferred him to holding this morning."

"That won't be necessary, Miss Starling," Carrick dismissed, "I've already gotten what I could out of him, and given the state of his mind between the alcohol and a batch of bad stimulants, it wasn't much. Frankly, he's lucky to be alive."

"Speaking of the med-center," Chellick added, "You should give them a call and see if they've had any cases that match the other biotics deaths. If these amps _are_ here on the Citadel, then their staff needs to be on alert."

"I know I haven't been at this police business long," Ayuda finally interjected, "But what about private clinics? Couldn't they just cover up something like that?"

"They might if they thought it would bring down a malpractice suit," Shanxi answered thoughtfully.

"Hmph. If they ever got caught with illegal amps, malpractice is the last thing they'd have to be worried about," the detective quipped.

"It's possible," Carrick agreed in response to Ayuda's question, "But I doubt whoever's behind this would be making their product available so close to home. The Citadel may be a crossroad for illegal merchandise, but it's rarely the final destination. Most of it gets moved out to the colonies where there's greater demand and less restriction."

As Chellick and the Spectre began to discuss strategies, Ayuda waved Shanxi over to sit with him. She complied, eager to ask him about his decision on the job at Chora's, but he spoke first.

"So, what'd you find on the hangar?" he asked, "Besides the Spectre, I mean."

"It's not like anything I've ever seen before," Shanxi replied, recalling the image of the ship that appeared eaten from the inside out, "It looks like it's taken a hit from an energy weapon, but there are no burn marks. It's definitely not from a collision; the hole went clean through, no denting or scrapes."

"Did Pallin have any ideas?"

"He said he'd seen it before in the military, but I didn't get to ask him anything before the Spectre showed up," Shanxi said as her brow furrowed and her mouth turned down at the corners, "I'm not sure he'd tell me anyway. He seems more worried about Carrick."

"Carrick?" Ayuda asked. Shanxi glanced at the Spectre and her partner nodded in understanding.

"Pallin seems to think he's going to cause trouble. He even gave me this."

Shanxi held out the power cell Pallin had given her earlier, but Ayuda just looked at her in confusion.

"A battery?" he asked, sounding unimpressed.

"It's not just any battery," Shanxi argued, "This came out of Pallin's hard suit. Why would he give me this when he knows I can just get them at the armory like all the other officers?"

Ayuda shrugged and pulled something out of a compartment in his suit.

"I don't understand men like Pallin," he told her, "But as long as we're giving gifts, I've got something for you, too."

Shanxi's eyes lit up as he passed her an OSD disk in a small plastic case.

"What's on it?" she asked excitedly.

"Don't know. Devaki wanted you to have it."

"So you did go to see her," Shanxi said in surprise as her head shot up to look him in the eyes, "And?"

"I'll tell you later," Ayuda said as Chellick and Carrick wrapped up their discussion, "Meet me at my room after your shift?"

"Okay," she said with a soft smile.

"Miss Starling," Carrick called as he turned to her, "I'd like you to accompany me to evidence if you would." She stood quickly and walked to his side.

"I'll let them know you're coming," Chellick said as they prepared to leave, "Ayuda and I will stay here to debrief on Chora's. There's a lot we need to cover before I can send him out."

Shanxi gave Ayuda and Chellick a parting glance before following the Spectre down the hall. The detective pointed two talons to his eyes then flicked his wrist to turn them toward her. She needed no words to understand the gesture - Chellick was sending a scout to keep watch over them.

oO--Oo.

"We're almost ready here," a salarian reported, his voice warped by the ventilator on his hazard suit, "Swabs from the ship have been taken and they're hooking up the infrared scanners now."

"Good," Pallin replied, "Get the swabs to the lab."

"Yes, sir."

The salarian scuttled off and left the Executor alone on the deck facing the Admiral. He hadn't moved from the spot for the past hour and a half, and it was making the scientists around him tense. They'd been quick about taking their samples and running their preliminary tests, but getting the infrared scanners wired into the hangars generator was taking longer than expected. Fed up with the wait, he'd finally called in a second team of techs, and any minute now he would be able to either confirm or dismiss his hypothesis about what had caused the damage to the ship sitting in front of him. He hoped he was wrong, but the lead weight in the pit of his stomach told him otherwise.

"Power it up!" one of the techs called from a grid box in the hallway to the salarians inside in the garage. Once they'd activated the scanner, the tech flipped off the fluorescent lights overhead, revealing a sight that the old turian swore he would never see again.

A glowing mass covered the Admiral's hull, pulsing slightly as the scientists passed the scanners over it. The salarian scientists who had contact with the ship had traces of the stuff on their hands as well, and a few of them stood eyeing their palms in awe.

"I think it's alive…" one of them murmured as he took a closer look at his hand.

"Oh, it's alive alright," Pallin said, his features darkening, "And that means _someone_ didn't follow orders."

"Orders?" the salarian asked curiously, "I've never seen this before in my life."

"And you never should have," Pallin said harshly, though his anger was directed elsewhere, "This organism was discovered on a turian colony decades ago. It was supposed to have been destroyed by the military."

The Executor swallowed hard as he watched the writhing mass throb with a life of its own. He knew what the scientists would see when they put the swabs under a microscope: an organism multiplying rapidly and releasing a toxin that reacted with metals in the process. It had managed to punch holes in a half dozen turian ships before they realized what was causing it. Orders were given to destroy the ships and firebomb the outpost it originated from, but obviously, someone had slipped up somewhere.

"Get this hangar evacuated now," he commanded, "We can't risk this reaching the Citadel."

While the men around him jumped to his orders, the Executor tried to map out a scenario in his head.

Huit must have been carrying the organism in the vial he'd been transferring, and lost it somewhere in the Admiral's cargo hold. Searching that hold would have been the first priority of Shanxi and her recruits. If the vial had rolled between the crates they were moving, it would have been crushed, thereby releasing the contents to the air. After that, the life form would have started multiplying, eventually burning a hole through the floor until it finally ate away the ship's underbelly. Shanxi hadn't noticed any damage when she had the ship towed because the organism hadn't had time to spread yet. If she hadn't had the ship moved, the Citadel proper would already be infected.

For the first time in his life, Pallin found himself giving thanks to greater powers for the newcomers from Earth. One of them had managed to follow procedure where an unknown turian had not…

oO--Oo.

As soon as Chellick released him from the afternoons extensive briefing, Ayuda hurried home to clean up the glass from his bathroom before Shanxi showed up. He would have forgotten about the mess entirely if it weren't for the pot of salve he'd gotten from Devaki.

When he reached his room at the barracks, he tossed the stack of criminal profiles Chellick had charged him with reading on his desk and stripped off the segment of armor covering his wounded thigh. He propped his foot on his chair and gingerly inspected the pale scar tissue. It was clean and didn't appear inflamed, but without the painkillers he'd tossed out last night, the tremors shot down the entire length of his leg mercilessly. It felt as if his muscles were being rendered from bone every time he took a step.

He sat down in the chair and pulled the salve from a compartment in his armor. As he carefully unscrewed the lid, a strong minty smell wafted into his nostrils. It was a pleasant scent, and good proof that the medicine was still fresh, but in its concentrated form, it made his eyes water. He put the pot on his desk with a sneeze before scooping out a bit of the white colored cream with one of his talons. It was thick and a bit oily, but it absorbed well as he slowly rubbed it into his discolored skin. Within a few seconds, he felt a cool, tingling sensation replace the constant ache he was used to. As soon as he'd covered the entire surface of the wound, he stood up carefully, propping his body weight against the desk with his hands. Once he was steady, he flexed the artificial knee on his bad leg a few times and let go. To his surprise, his leg held.

Grinning in triumph, he walked the perimeter of his barrack. The pain was gone, and he laughed aloud in ecstatic relief. Devaki was proving to be as good as her word, and he vowed then and there that he would spend the rest of his life making it up the matron, especially if it meant seeing his sister again. He walked around a bit more, enjoying his new pain-free mobility, and was almost ready to dance for the hell of it when the comm on the wall buzzed him out of his euphoric state.

"Ayuda? Are you in?" Shanxi's voice called on the speaker. Ayuda dashed over to the comm, knocking over the trashcan in his haste.

"I'm here, just give me five minutes," he replied.

"Okay."

He hurriedly put the trashcan right side up again before running into the bathroom to clean up the mess he'd made last night. He snatched a towel off the rack to soak up the liquid, then scrambled to gather the shards of glass. The ointment he'd rubbed onto his leg had left his hand half-numb as well, and it made it difficult for him to get a hold of the tiny fragments. In fact, he barely felt it when a larger piece slit a gash between his thumb and index talon.

"Shit," he swore, dropping the glass to cradle his bleeding palm. He heard Shanxi call on the comm again, so he resorted to sliding the whole mess into one of the bathrooms corners using the towel as a makeshift broom. As soon as that was done, he ran his hand under the faucet and wrapped it with the last clean hand towel remaining on the wall. When he finally managed to open the door, he was relieved to see Shanxi waiting outside as patiently as ever.

"Is everything alright?" she asked.

Ayuda's first instinct was to tell her everything was fine, but he reminded himself why he'd invited her over in the first place: to tell her the truth. It would be a pretty sore move on his part to begin with a lie. There was no way he could hide the obvious wound from her anyway.

"Actually, I just had a little accident in the bathroom," he replied finally, drawing his hand around the side of the airlock so she could see.

"What happened?! Let me take a look at it," she exclaimed, reaching for his towel-wrapped palm.

"It's alright really, just a cut," he said as she removed the towel with the same light-fingered care Devaki had shown him earlier, "A little medi-gel and it'll be fine."

"No," Shanxi said as she tilted his hand gently in inspection, "There's still some glass in it. We need to get it out first or your skin will heal over it."

She looked up at him and her warm eyes made him freeze.

"There should be a first aid kit in the bathroom…I could help you if you like."

"I'd appreciate that," he said softly, "Please, come in. There are some things I need to tell you."


	17. Chapter 17

**One Eye Open - Chapter Seventeen**

"I'm sorry I was so late getting here," Shanxi apologized as she pulled on a pair of sterile medical gloves, "I had to escort Carrick over to Division 21 after we were done at the lab."

"Are they going to take over tracking the amps then?" Ayuda asked from where he sat on his bed. Shanxi shook her head and pulled over his desk chair to sit down.

"No. The Spectre still plans on running things and he wants me back in the morning to help with sweeps," she replied, taking his hand into her lap. Ayuda thought he caught a whiff of strawberry shampoo from the mass of curls on Shanxi's head as she leaned forward with a pair of tweezers. "What about you? Are you going into Chora's?"

"I told you I was," Ayuda replied, wishing she was looking at him and not his hand so he could have some hint at how she would feel about what he was going to tell her. "You don't think I made the right decision?"

"It's not that," she murmured, "It's just that…Well, I don't know if you were briefed on my last partner before being assigned with me, but you see, she-"

"Got killed on the job," Ayuda finished. The human gave him a quick glance and nodded solemnly before returning to her examination. "Jacoby told me. He also told me you wanted to quit. Any particular reason you changed your mind?"

He winced a little as she pulled out a piece of glass and sat it into a metal tray on the bed beside him.

"I didn't _want_ to quit," she protested in a voice that wavered, "But I was having a hard time coping after it happened. They always warn newbies at the Academy that officers risk their lives everyday at this job, but being warned about it beforehand doesn't make it any easier when it actually happens. Specially not when it could have been avoided."

Shanxi's hands shook a little, but her touch remained gentle as she removed the final shard from his wound. "If I'd just taken the shot instead of tossing a mine, Lyla never would have died."

"You don't know that," Ayuda argued, for her sake as much as that of himself and the squad he'd unknowingly led to death months earlier, "There are too many factors at work in the world to see things in such black and white terms. You can make all the 'right' decisions and still have a bad result." He frowned a little. "Believe me…I know."

Shanxi remained silent and dabbed his cut with an antiseptic before applying a thin layer of medi-gel. She took his hand in hers and blew on the sticky substance to help it dry, eliciting a shiver from her turian patient. She looked up sharply when she heard him start laughing; it was a sound she never thought she'd hear from the dark, brooding man.

"What?" she asked, a grin spreading across her face. He chuckled some more and rested a hand on his knee as he bent forward and brought his face close to hers.

"Your breath is cold," he said, erupting in laugher again. Shanxi laughed with him, and by the time their fit was over, Ayuda was in too good a mood to drag out the revelations of his past. He found he was perfectly content just to be in his partner's presence.

Still, there was one nagging detail about their discussion that he was intent on clearing up.

"So, why did you come back?" he repeated as she gathered up the medical supplies, "It wasn't because of Pallin was it?" Shanxi froze suddenly and fixed him with a hard stare.

"What? Why would you think that?" she asked with a puzzled expression.

"It was something Jacoby mentioned," Ayuda explained, "He seems to think you and the Executor don't have a very good relationship. Thought Pallin might be coercing you…" The turian glanced up her from rubbing his sore hand. "He's not is he?"

"No!" Shanxi exclaimed, "The Executor isn't like that at all, and since no one else has warned you, I will: you shouldn't listen to everything Jacoby tells you."

"I guess not," Ayuda said awkwardly, "I was just worried about you is all."

Her expression softened as she returned the tweezers and medi-gel to the first-aid kits compartments.

"You don't need to worry about me," she said, "Jacoby seems to be doing too much of that already." She shut the lid with a click and met his eyes. "I came back because of something a friend of mine told me - a quarian, actually."

"Really?" Ayuda said, flaring his mandibles curiously, "I wouldn't peg you as the type to bandy about with beggars and thieves." Shanxi frowned and stiffened defensively. Ayuda swallowed and bit his tongue.

"He's not a beggar and he's certainly not a thief," she retorted, "He's as wise as Devaki and a fraction of her age. _He's my friend_."

"I didn't mean-" he started, cringing inwardly at his careless comment, "That is, I've never met a quarian before. I'm sorry. I just hear the stories."

"Well, you shouldn't believe those either," she quipped poignantly. Ayuda nodded with something approaching shame as he remembered how naïve Shanxi had seemed to him upon first meeting her. In this instance, the tables were turned, and he wondered what other aspects of her personality were hidden behind her pensive frown and wide brown eyes.

"I don't suppose you'd want to meet him would you?" she asked with sudden excitement.

Ayuda considered how off-track this meeting had already become given his original intentions, and he just shrugged. "Alright."

oO--Oo.

Ayuda could feel Shanxi's excitement as they pressed through the throngs of people that were already out and about in the lower wards. A child-like glow lit up her face as she explained that her quarian friend ran an arcade that she frequented, which is how they'd originally met. He couldn't help but smile at her genuine enthusiasm; and soon, all thoughts of his afternoon with Devaki had been replaced by his anticipation about his first outing with Shanxi.

She didn't need to point out the place when they finally came upon it. The large electric sign rigged above its dual-door airlock did the job just fine on its own. 'Vertigo: Virtual Lounge' it read. A steady stream of people flowed in and out of the building, and Ayuda could catch strands of the fast-paced music playing inside.

"Well, I'll be damned," he laughed, "A quarian who understands capitalism. The Citadel really does have everything."

Shanxi grinned and took him by his arm, "You haven't seen anything, yet. Come on!"

Together, they made their way up the entry ramp and through the portal into the arcade's public foyer. A wall-mounted tower of monitors three units high and as many across raced with video, and the heavy beat of the music thumped through the air like a living pulse. Humans, salarians, and even a handful of asari mingled in the corners, chatting energetically, while a dark-haired human managed the front desk. Shanxi crossed the crowded room with ease and an air of confidence such as Ayuda hadn't seen in her before. He did his best to follow her across the floor without bumping into anybody.

"Hey, Devan," Shanxi said in greeting to the human behind the desk, "Is Vahe around?"

"He's in the dungeon," the man replied, "The bioptic lenses in his visor failed this morning, and you know he's blind as a bat without those things. Been down there all day working on repairs leaving _me_ to run the joint all by myself."

"Maybe you should ask for a raise," Ayuda bantered.

"Hah," Devan laughed as he handed off a waiver to an asari customer, "You must be new here. Vahe's one of the biggest penny-pinchers this side of the galaxy. He makes the volus look spendy, and that's saying something, cause they're a pretty damn miserly lot." The man tugged off the headset he wore and leaned forward to speak to Shanxi. "Since you came all this way, I'd really appreciate it if you'd go down there and give him a kick in the pants. Ya know, remind him that he's still alive…"

"Not before you remind Mr. Macalister that while I may be blind, I am _not_ deaf," a crisp voice interrupted. Ayuda glanced up at the new speaker, surprised by how well the melodic voice cut through the rest of the din.

A short figure in a pristine black bio-suit ascended the staircase sunk into the floor behind the desk. He was announced by the sound of a re-pressurizing airlock as he mounted the first stair and surveyed the room through a blue-green face plate. The barely perceptible silhouette of a fine-boned face shown through the glass as he turned his head.

"There you are, Sandman," Devan piped up, "I was thinking you'd be out of commission all night."

"And leave you chatting up my female clientele?" the quarian returned smartly as he walked forward to meet the group.

"It's just Shanxi," the human complained.

"Which is exactly why I don't want you bothering her. I prefer that my regulars remain that way."

The human shrugged and plugged his head set back into his ears to answer a call, "Vertigo, this is Devan, how can I help you?"

The short man shook his head at his employee and let out an eerie-sounding sigh through his ventilator.

"I'm not sure why I ever hired that boy," he muttered.

"Because Devan loves this arcade and you know it," Shanxi replied with a smile, "Vahe, if anybody wants you to succeed, he does."

"Yes, yes," the quarian said, waving off the matter with a gloved hand, "Now then, how can I help you this evening, Miss Starling?"

"I wanted you to meet someone," she said happily, gesturing to Ayuda, "This is my new partner."

"Ayudasesha Dresthi," the turian said, holding out his hand. The faceless visor turned towards him then down to his outstretched palm. When the quarian looked up again, Ayuda thought he saw a glow from behind the tinted plate.

"Vahe'Kesh vas Zindura," the man replied slowly before inclining his head towards the bandage on Ayuda's hand, "And I will thank you not to touch me."

"Oh," the turian exclaimed as he remembered himself. After spending their entire lives on sterilized ships, quarians had virtually no immune system to speak of. Even breathing the same air as other aliens was risky without the use of a ventilator, so it made sense that presenting one of the masked outsiders with a fresh wound could be perceived as incredibly insulting, if not an intentional attempt to harm. Ayuda clasped his hands behind his back and bowed his head slightly. "My apologies."

"Apology accepted," Vahe said, "I'm pleased the two of you are here, actually. I could use some testers for a new sim if you have the time and inclination."

Shanxi looked over to Ayuda with an eager look on her face, and the turian looked back at the quarian.

"What kind of sim?" he asked.

"An environmental study of Earth's rainforests. There is very little of the habitat left, so finding volunteers with the sense impressions necessary to build it has taken awhile," the quarian answered before turning to Shanxi, "I thought this one might be of particular interest to you, Miss Starling, as you share the same origin."

"It sounds like fun, Vahe," she said, "But is it alright for Ayuda to play with his hand like that?"

"Of course," he clucked, "I'll need to go downstairs and find some equipment to fit him though. Turians aren't exactly common here in Vertigo."

"So, what do you think?" Shanxi asked her partner.

"If it's as much fun as you say it is, then I say why not?" he replied. Shanxi grinned and Vahe handed him a data-pad from off the desk.

"Please read and sign the waiver," the quarian instructed him, "Devan, get Miss Starling suited up while I find a proper fit for Mr. Dresthi."

Shanxi gave Ayuda a thumbs up as Devan lead her down one of three corridors that intersected the foyer. He returned the gesture with a wave, then turned back to the quarian who stood staring at him silently. Ayuda stiffened under the scrutiny, and wondered what it was about the elfin alien that was making him so defensive. Maybe it was jealousy of the anonymity quarians enjoyed. No one knew what they looked like beyond their shaded helmets, and they had no facial expressions to give away what they were feeling. There was something unnerving about being observed by something so unobservable. The balance of power in their social interaction was off, and it tipped in the quarian's favor.

"Come with me," Vahe said finally.

The turian followed his diminutive host back down the flight of stairs that lead to the 'dungeon' Devan had mentioned earlier. In truth, it was merely a sub-level to the arcade proper, and by the looks of things, it was where the quarian made his home.

Half of the room was cut off by a metal wall set with large plexi-glass panels, and a decontamination chamber of claustrophobic proportions was all that connected them. Ayuda realized that the great glass cube was a clean-room, and probably the only place on the Citadel that the quarian escorting him felt completely safe. He swallowed as he recalled the off-handed comment he'd made in the barracks just before coming here. Suffering a few quarian panhandlers seemed like a small price to pay when compared to spending your entire life in a bubble; unable to touch, to feel, and cut off from everything even when placed right in the middle of it. A stranger in your own surroundings. Something _truly _alien.

"These should do," the quarian said as he tossed a pair of gloves to the turian from a compartment on the far wall, "They used to be mine, but I let them out a little just in case a turian decided to go crazy and enjoy himself for once."

"Thanks," Ayuda said, noting the three-finger design.

"Have you ever experienced a virtual world, before?" Vahe asked as he poked about the room some more.

"No, but Shanxi told me about it on our way over here. She seems to like this place a lot."

"Good, I am glad that she finds comfort here. It is a hard thing to be so far from home."

"But she was born here, wasn't she?" Ayuda asked in confusion.

"I believe that is correct," the quarian confirmed.

"Then this _is_ her home isn't it?"

Vahe finished his rummaging and walked back over to the turian carrying a vest with several long cables that dragged along the floor behind him.

"I will let you be the judge of that," he said as he lead the turian back upstairs with the bulky garment, "It's rather ironic, I think. Humans used to dream of the stars...now they dream of the Earth."


	18. Chapter 18

**One Eye Open - Chapter Eighteen**

"You must know Shanxi pretty well," Ayuda said as he watched Vahe insert a cable from his bio-suit into the computer tower next to the platform where he sat. The quarian's nimble hands continued flicking over switches and a twelve-digit keypad without pause as he offered a cryptic answer.

"Well enough," he said simply.

"Well enough to convince her not to leave C-Sec you mean," the turian goaded. He hadn't thought the quarians to be persons of such vague speech, and he was beginning to grow agitated by his host's careful ambiguity. It made him wonder just what the little man was hiding - and from who.

Vahe ignored him and gave a nod of satisfaction at the simulator's new settings, then faced Ayuda who already sat strapped into the elaborate machine.

"I merely told her what I tell all young pilgrims who find themselves lost," the short man said, "Life is a journey, and few are the people who always know where they are going, but as long as you put one foot in front of the other, the unknown can't stop you from getting there."

"What the hell does that have to do with C-Sec?" Ayuda blurted as his face pinched. Vahe laughed lightly and double-checked the clasps on the vest across the turian's chest. The little bio-feedback nodes sewn into it flashed brightly as they caught the light filtering down from the monitor on the wall.

"When young quarians leave the flotilla, they leave with the best equipment and training possible," the quarian explained, "They leave knowing their goal is to return with something of value to our people. None of them know what this thing will be, but they look for it anyway, and they always know when they've found it. The pilgrimage is a metaphor for life, Mr. Dresthi, and life…Well, you only have one, and the lives of humans and quarians are too short for fear and regret."

The quarian glanced up at Ayuda once he'd finished making sure all the wiring was connected properly.

"The lives of turians, too," he added softly. Ayuda lost his chance to question the man further as he was handed a head-set with a holographic visor. Apparently the quarian was eager to get him in the game and out of his hair.

"As soon as the program initiates you will find yourself in the player lobby," Vahe explained as he booted up the terminal, "Shanxi is already immersed and you should find her waiting inside. This is an instanced simulation and the two of you are the only ones present in the game world. If at any point you need to leave the sim, you need only to enter one of the many exit points scattered within the environment. These points are outlined in blue holo-circles."

Ayuda pulled down the visor over his eyes and watched as a 3-d interface loaded on the screen. His stomach turned a bit in uncertainty, but he tried to focus on the quarian's instructions.

"Once you exit the game you will be returned to the lobby for a sixty-second cool-down. Upon completion, your visor will shut off automatically and you may begin removing your equipment to leave the simulator. Removing equipment during cool-down may result in static shock, so please pay attention, and remember: Nothing you see is real. It is a simulated environment. Regardless of what occurs in the game world, you here, whole, and perfectly safe."

As the screen on Ayuda's visor lit up, the last thing he felt was a light hand on his shoulder and Vahe's accented voice near his ear, "Good luck."

.oO--Oo.

When Ayuda's eyes finally adjusted, he found himself inside what looked like the cargo hold of a large ship. He held up his hands experimentally and blinked a few times to focus. Three talons, coal-colored skin, and no indication of the gloves he knew he was wearing outside the sim. He flexed his hands and waved them back and forth a few times to test for image flickering or lag, but the movements appeared as fluid as they were in life.

"Amazing," he muttered in absent-minded awe.

"Isn't it?" a familiar voice piped up with amusement.

He looked up and saw Shanxi - or rather, her avatar - standing a few feet in front of him with a warm smile on her face. Ayuda breathed in at her perfect copy. All her dark curls, frown lines, and even the tiny dimples near the corners of her thin lips sat just they should. The only thing calling the image out as a fake was the unearthly luminescence that radiated from her pale skin. Even so, he thought it made her look stunning, and he wondered if he looked the same to her.

"What is this place?" he asked as he finally drew his eyes away from his partner and examined his surroundings more closely.

"The main cabin of the Zindura - a cruiser class ship in the quarian flotilla and Vahe's home-ship," Shanxi explained, "A representation of it anyway. I think it makes Vahe feel closer to his people."

"Not too shabby looking for a salvage," the turian noted with interest.

"That's because it's not one. This vessel was acquired by Vahe's mother on her pilgrimage. She bartered it from the volus in working condition; it is named for her."

"I wonder how she managed to pull that off," Ayuda said with a laugh and a measure of new-found respect for the elfin outsiders. The volus were typically regarded as the best businessmen in the galaxy, and their iron-clad economy supported the stereotype. Vahe's mother must have been a very shrewd or very dangerous woman to convince them to turn over a perfectly good starship. Shanxi blushed a little at his comment and a grin crept across her face.

"I didn't get all the details," she snickered, "But I get the impression a bit of impropriety was involved."

"Heh," the turian grinned as images of a quarian attempting to seduce a squat volus entered his head, "Shrewd _and_ dangerous."

"What?"

"Nothing," Ayuda replied as he cocked his head to the side with a wry smile, "But now that you mention it, Vahe is rather short…"

Shanxi covered her mouth with her hands as she erupted in laughter at the joke. She gave the turian a light slap on the shoulder and tried to scold him between bouts of laughter and catching her breath.

"That's not a very nice thing to say," she managed through a wide grin, "What if Vahe hears you?"

"Hears me?"

"He can watch us in the viewing room," she said as her eyebrows raised eagerly to for his reaction. Ayuda just shrugged with an amused smile.

"Too late now, I suppose," he muttered, to which Shanxi only laughed some more.

"Are you always so shameless?" she asked.

"I'm just making a joke, not running bare naked through the Presidium," he scoffed, puffing up a bit in mock offense, "I'm sure Vahe is of a fine quarian heritage."

"Besides," he sniffed, "You started it."

"Me?!" Shanxi exclaimed as her eyes shot open.

"You're the one slandering the man's mother," he accused.

"That's not wha-"

A loud alarm cut Shanxi off before she could finish her reply. Both players slammed their virtual hands against the all-too real sound.

"Please exit the lobby," a slightly annoyed quarian voice came over the intercom, "I have another party waiting to enter a game."

"Sorry, Vahe!" Shanxi called to the invisible overseer as she took Ayuda's arm and lead him through a portal into their instanced sim-world. Ayuda eyed the virtual ship as she guided him along, and whispered one word to the quarian watcher, "Pervert."

The human giggled; and the world of ships and stars fell away to reveal a world of green.

.oO--Oo.

Once they'd pass through portal's loading zone, Ayuda's field of vision was assaulted by a rainbow of color and heavy, moist air that collected on his dark skin like fine perspiration. Trees of monstrous proportions sat so densely packed there was barely enough room for him to walk alongside Shanxi, who he noticed had stopped a few feet ahead of him, face turned up to great green canopy above. A thin ray of light peeked through a pinhole opening in the foliage, and she stood bathed in its light as if it were water. Her eyes were closed, and her mouth stood open slightly, tasting the living air around them. Ayuda paused to watch her a moment, then threw a backward glance to the player lobby, but the 'ship' they'd just exited had disappeared. The simulation was in full effect now.

"It's beautiful," Shanxi said.

Ayuda turned back to face and her and took a few more steps forward. The bed of fallen leaves and soft moss felt pleasant against the bottom of his feet. Years of contact on metal had worn his soles thick and discolored, but not entirely without feeling. He flexed his toes and tried to recall the many colonies he'd been dragged to and from in his youth, but none of them resembled where he found himself now.

"It _is _beautiful," he agreed, raising his eyes from the floor to the ceiling as Shanxi did. His mouth opened in surprise as the silhouette of a bird crossed one of the small streams of sunlight, an exotic call echoing after it.

"Vahe's really outdone himself," Shanxi continued as she tore her eyes away from the scenery and looked over to her partner, "Most of his sims don't include wildlife. Just the local flora and land formations."

"Has he built many sims like this?"

"Oh yes. Vahe once told me has a library of more than a hundred simulated environments, and that's just the planetary sims. He has others."

"Like what?"

Shanxi thought a moment as she passed between two vine-covered tree trunks to look at some brightly colored flowers. Ayuda followed her at a short distance, watching the expressions on her face as he recalled Vahe's words in the arcade's lower level.

"Like the Zindura," she replied absently as she sniffed the unusual plant, "Ships and people as well as places. Vahe even has a copy of himself in the system."

"That's a bit…strange," Ayuda mumbled.

"Not really," Shanxi disagreed, moving from the plant towards an orange-speckled frog making its way up a tree next to her, "Vahe is dying, you see. Vertigo is his legacy, like the Zindura is his mother's legacy. I don't think it's wrong to want to be remembered - to leave something behind."

"He's dying? He looked fine to me," Ayuda said in surprise.

Shanxi sat on a fallen log and gestured for him to sit next to her. When he came close, he saw her clothes had begun to cling to her body, and he could faintly smell the sweat on her skin. It was an unusual, musky scent, and not altogether unpleasant.

"Vahe wasn't happy with staying upon the flotilla after his pilgrimage," Shanxi explained, "He wanted to see the galaxy, and build a machine that would allow other quarians to see it, too - even the ones that were too sick or handicapped to leave the Liveships. So, he left with a small team and started collecting data on the places they visited. Over time, he used it to build sims like the one we're in now."

"During their travels, though, he contracted an illness that his body couldn't fight. The other quarians couldn't return with him to the flotilla, the risk of spreading the disease would be too great, so he asked them to bring him here, and he's been here ever since, fighting the disease with modern medicine."

Shanxi's eyes darkened and she looked at the ground sadly.

"Thing is, all his treatments are only borrowing time. The injections fight the illness, but they leave trace chemicals building up in his blood, and eventually it will cause his organs to shut down. He's slowly being poisoned to death."

Ayuda took in the story quietly. When it appeared she was finished, he put his hand on hers. As he tried to think of a response, a clap of thunder rolled across the atmosphere. Shanxi's head jerked up suddenly and he could feel her muscles tense.

"What's that?" she exclaimed. Ayuda puzzled at her reaction momentarily before realizing she'd probably never heard a storm before.

"It's thunder," he said, "It's the sound lighting makes. Means rain's coming."

"Oh," she said as she relaxed a little. She laughed at herself and looked at him with a childish smile. "It sounds like a bomb went off."

Ayuda chuckled and shook his head.

"No bomb, but I'd hazard a guess we're about to get _very_ wet."

Shanxi turned her head skyward, and the soft hush of light rain promptly flitted through the air. Something in Ayuda's chest tightened as he watched a soft, awed expression wash over his partner's face. He could tell she was listening intensely, trying to remember, to grasp a past and a planet and a people that were as alien to her as he was. Without thinking, he reached out to touch her face, but her avatar suddenly rippled and he drew his hand back. Her image solidified itself again, but an uncomfortable, ominous feeling in his stomach kept him from reaching out once more.

As the rain finally made its way through the leaves to the players below, Shanxi shrieked in excitement. She jumped off the log and spread her arms out, face skyward. Ayuda watched her with mixed feelings of joy and melancholy. Where was the last feeling coming from, he wondered.

Shanxi danced about in the rain until she slipped and landed right in Ayuda's lap. She just laughed in embarrassment for herself, and, to his surprise, leaned her head against his chest. The turian tensed, every one of his senses suddenly on edge, but Shanxi seemed unaware from where she rested in the curve of his arm. She had stopped laughing, and now sat with her eyes closed, a small, peaceful smile on her lips. He could feel the warmth of her body through her soaked clothes, and the curves outlined by the cling of her shirt lit a fire of their own.

"I'm glad you came to the Citadel, Ayuda," she whispered, "And I'm sorry that whatever brought you here had to be so unhappy."

Ayuda's throat constricted, and his yellow eyes raced back and forth nervously.

"Don't be sorry," he said at last, "If it hadn't happened I wouldn't be here."

_Besides, _he thought_,__ the lives of turians are too short for fear and regret._


	19. Chapter 19

**One Eye Open - Chapter Nineteen**

"So, I completely forgot to ask you about how things went at Devaki's today," Shanxi mused as she sipped her soda outside a busy open-air restaurant she and Ayuda came across on their way back to the barracks. Neither of them had eaten since that morning, and a pleasant smell coming from the crowded establishment had caught the human woman's attention. A hanar host offered the pair a table as soon as it became available and informed them a waiter would be by shortly.

Ayuda sat across the table perusing a menu, but he looked up at her comment.

"It went very well," he said as he folded the menu and placed it back on the table, "Devaki has offered her assistance in helping me solve some lingering problems back on Palaven, as well as eliminated a more immediate concern of mine. I know that these problems are no excuse for how I've been acting though, and I want you to know that I appreciate your patience, Shanxi."

"You're welcome," she smiled, "I'm just glad Devaki could help you."

"She is a very interesting woman. That mind-link though…must have been hard growing up with a mother like that. I wouldn't have been able to get away with half the stuff I pulled as kid," he laughed before pausing for a thoughtful moment, "What exactly happened to your biological mother, anyway? If you don't mind my asking."

Shanxi took one last swig of her drink before straightening in her chair and pushing it away. She chewed her lip a moment before she spoke.

"It's kind of a long story," she began slowly, "Do turians know what cancer is?"

Ayuda shrugged and blinked, "I know it's a human illness, but that's about it."

"Cancer is a condition in which cells of the body multiply without regulation," Shanxi explained, "It often causes growths called tumors. When humans are exposed to element zero, it triggers this condition in our brain cells. Most of the time, the exposed humans develop tumors, but a rare few develop the nodes necessary for biotic ability. I'm afraid my mother was one of the former."

"She came to the Citadel with a research group sanctioned by negotiations the Alliance made with the Council after the First Contact War. The Alliance said they wanted to appeal to the galactic community's advanced technology and experience in biotics to find a cure for victims of ezzo contamination, but Devaki says the Council was concerned that this was a ruse. At the time, many of the asari believed what they really wanted was to find a way to identify the genetic markers that make some individuals more predisposed to biotic ability than others so that they could artificially increase their number of biotic soldiers. In the end, they allowed the research program, but not without enforcing strict regulations and regular monitoring."

"I take it they didn't have much luck," Ayuda said.

"No," Shanxi replied sadly, "My mother stayed with the program until she gave birth to me, but after that she was too weak and a lot of the attention got shifted to me. No one thought I was going to make it, so when I came out healthy, the doctors in charge decided I was a prime candidate for study."

Shanxi sighed and shifted in her seat, casting her eyes to the side and staring absently.

"It didn't last though. I started showing signs of ezzo contamination when I was a little over a year old, and it was about that time that Devaki stepped in and removed me from the program."

"How'd she become involved with all this?" Ayuda interjected curiously.

"That's the part I've never been entirely clear on," Shanxi said as her brow furrowed, "I try not to ask Devaki too many questions, and all she has ever told me is that she felt like it was her responsibility to offer my mother aid when she left the program. For some reason, my mother refused to return to Earth, and there was no realistic way for her to survive on her own here. She was too sick, and the translation technology in omni-tools was still being developed to include human language. Devaki was used to taking in students, and her mind-link made verbal communication unnecessary. So, she gave my mother shelter and small jobs at her school. By the time my mother passed away, Devaki and her daughters already considered me a part of the family, so she had my guardianship legally transferred."

"I bet that wasn't easy," Ayuda said.

"No, but Devaki is an old and influential member of an old and influential race," Shanxi continued, "She had the money and the connections to win that fight in the end. I remained with her and she took charge of my needs, including the medical care. If she hadn't stepped in like she did, I don't think I would be here now. I had to have some pretty expensive surgeries to have my tumor removed."

"And things are alright now?" the turian asked as his eye ridges pinched in concern. The human swallowed nervously and picked at one of her hands.

"Well, there is always the possibility that another tumor could develop," she reasoned, "But I get an MRI scan as part of my physical every year, and it's always been clean. At this point, the doctors believe it is unlikely that I will experience a relapse, largely due to the fact that my exposure was only secondary and therefore less severe than most patients."

"What do you mean by 'secondary'?" Ayuda questioned.

"I mean that my mother wasn't actually pregnant with me at the time she was exposed. I came along later and was only passed remaining traces of it while she was carrying me."

Ayuda frowned.

"It seems a little irresponsible for someone to risk a pregnancy when they know the odds of their child coming out with a condition like cancer," he said. When Shanxi glanced away uncomfortably at his words, something in his brain finally clicked.

_So that's why you're so self-conscious_, he thought silently, _You think you were a mistake don't you?_

He considered Shanxi's ready smile and eagerness to please, as well as her tireless, uncomplaining work ethic. Then he considered what it must have been like growing up in a house full of asari that could outdo her in seemingly everything. Go figure the woman was an obsessive perfectionist; she was working to prove to others what she didn't even believe herself - that she _wasn't_ a mistake.

Ayuda gave himself a slap to the forehead as he realized how hurtful his comment must have sounded. "That came out wrong," he said hastily, "I didn't mean to imply that-"

Ayuda was suddenly cut off by the arrival of their waiter.

"Good evening," the hanar lilted as he placed a fresh soda on the table next to Shanxi's half-empty glass, "May this one take your order?"

The turian gestured for his partner to go first, and as soon as the hanar had taken their orders and cleared away the menus, he reached across the table to take Shanxi's hand.

"Shanxi, you said it yourself that Devaki chose to take you and your mother in," he said, "She wouldn't have done that if she didn't see something in you worth saving. If other people can't see that, well, that's _their_ problem. You shouldn't have to spend your life trying to impress people. That's no life at all."

"I know," she muttered half-heartedly, "But it feels like there are so many people waiting for me to fail. When I was growing up, Devaki sometimes got hate letters from Terra Firma, and no one would talk to me when I was a student at the Academy. Nobody except Chellick anyway, and I think that's just because he knows how I feel. He doesn't always fit in well with other turians himself."

"I can see why," Ayuda agreed. The turian detective _was_ a bit of a metropolitan odd-ball. "But just because people don't always accept you the way you are doesn't mean there's something wrong with you. Terra Firma wouldn't have any way of know what you're like, nor would the students at the Academy if they never interacted with you. See how that works? Sometimes people are just too afraid or too stupid to give other people a chance."

"I mean, wasn't _I _being pretty stupid when we first met? You still gave me a chance, and now we seem to get along well," he finished, "When I can manage to think before I speak at least. I've been told men have trouble with that sometimes…"

Shanxi smiled at Ayuda's joke and nodded.

"I suppose you're right," she said as she played with her straw, "Thanks for coming out here with me tonight, Ayuda. I don't get out much anymore."

"Me neither. I guess we'll have to make it a point to do this again sometime..."

"I'd like that," Shanxi replied with a grin.

The hanar arrived promptly with their food, a plate in each of the tentacle-like appendages on the underside of its body. It placed each officers meal in front of them and unfolded a cloth napkin for Shanxi. She smiled warmly and placed it in her lap.

"May this one offer anything else?" the waiter asked.

"No, thank you," Shanxi replied, "I think we're set."

"Please enjoy."

As the hanar floated away and the pair turned their attention to their dinner, an unpleasant human voice found it's way to their table.

"Well, isn't that cute," a rough-looking man sitting two tables over muttered, "A human and a turian."

Ayuda's head shot up before he could put one bite in his mouth. He saw Shanxi had raised her head, too, and when she caught sight of the uninvited intruder behind him she scowled. The turian glanced quickly over his shoulder, eager to see who could be vile enough to earn his generally mild-mannered partner's ire. What he saw was a human in his late forties at least, with stubble on his chin and a predatory gleam in his eyes. He sat slouched in his booth, with his worn leather boots propped up on the table rudely. The human man had been busy returning Shanxi's scowl with a suggestive grin, but when Ayuda turned to look at him he shifted his eyesight to the turian and spat a wad of a sticky brown substance on the floor.

"What're you looking at?" he barked.

Ayuda ignored him and turned back to Shanxi.

"I take it you know this man?" he asked her.

"Unfortunately," she mumbled, without taking her eyes off the man in question, "His name is Harkin. He used to work in Division 11, but the Executor fired last him week because of alcohol abuse. He's a complete embarrassment to our organization, and one of the biggest reasons I don't hold the Executor's distrust of humans against him. If I was forced to keep an ass like that on my team because of bureaucratic pressure I'd be upset, too."

The turian nodded and gestured to the food.

"Do you want to take this back to the barracks?" he offered.

"No," Shanxi said, "Let's just ignore him. I don't want to be run out of a public place on _his_ account." Ayuda agreed and they both went back to eating. A few minutes managed to get by in peace before the ex-officer started up again.

"You know, I'm pretty sure there's rules against fraternization within the same division," the man goaded, "Or maybe you're pulling rank to finally get a man to show you a little attention, eh Starling?"

Shanxi dropped her fork back onto her plate with a clatter and Ayuda could see her posture begin to tense up.

"We're here to eat, Harkin," she said firmly, "And I should like to remind you that you aren't an officer anymore. If I need to pull rank here tonight it'll be to charge you with disturbance of the peace."

The man threw his head back and howled with laughter that drew the attention of several other diners.

"So," he said, "There _is_ a spitfire under all that asari-bred courtesy. Maybe if you were like that a little more often you could actually find a human man to put up with you."

"And maybe if you weren't such a disgusting drunk you wouldn't be eating alone," Ayuda fired back as he shifted in his seat to face the offending party, "Not to mention without a job."

The man's grin faded into a frown. His clumsy attempt to find his feet made his inebriation obvious, but somehow he still managed to stumble over to Ayuda and Shanxi's table. The turian officer stood as well, placing himself in front of his partner.

"You're quite the one to talk turian," Harkin whispered in a low hiss as he leaned into Ayuda's personal space, "Does your asari-bred bitch know that you shoot up between shifts?"

Patrons gasped and utensils clattered as Ayuda's fist suddenly shot out and connected squarely with the man's jaw. Harkin flew backwards, knocking over a table on his way to the floor. Despite the impact of the punch and being covered in someone's half-eaten dinner, Harkin cursed and tried to struggle back to his feet. The hanar staff stood by helplessly, their normally pinkish hide turning dark with distress. Ayuda would have gone over and beat the man some more if it weren't for the restraining touch of Shanxi's hand on his upper arm.

"He's not worth it, Ayuda," she said anxiously, "You were right, we should just go back to the barracks."

"Did you hear what he called you?!" Ayuda exclaimed in anger.

"That doesn't matter, Ayuda, but you do," she argued, "Please. I don't want you to get into anymore trouble with the Executor. Let's just go."

Ayuda continued to fume as he watched the ex-officer wallow in a mess of tablecloth and food scraps. He didn't know how the man knew about his habit with injections, but now that he had Devaki's salve, it didn't really matter. Ayuda breathed deeply and allowed Shanxi to calm him down enough that he managed an apology to the wait staff and offered to pay for any damages. The hanar, however, seemed unperturbed once the violence was over and Enforcement arrived to pick up Harkin. They even bundled up what was left of Shanxi and Ayuda's dinner, wishing them a good evening in the process.

On the transit back to the barracks, the turian officer was stiff as stone. He kept waiting for Shanxi to turn to him and ask about the injections again, but she never did. Instead, she simply leaned into the curve of his arm again, and feel soundly asleep.


	20. Chapter 20

**One Eye Open - Chapter Twenty**

By the time the transit shuttle made it back to the barracks, Ayuda had turned over the confrontation at the restaurant a half-dozen times in his head. His reaction was too impulsive. He had only ended up drawing attention to himself at a time when he could least afford it. Maybe Shanxi saw no reason to file a report over the scuffle, but what about the enforcement officers that responded to the scene? Or even the other diners? Ayuda cursed in turian under his breath, careful not to wake his slumbering partner. For all he knew, the citizens that patronized the restaurant might also frequent Chora's Den. What if he ran into one of them there during his assignment? What if he was recognized?

The turian glanced absently out the shuttle's window and set his jaw. That wasn't the only thing that worried him. Harkin had known something he shouldn't have, and the only way he could have gotten his information was from the dealer Ayuda had met with in the wards. But even then, the salarian he'd bartered with had no way of identifying him except by sight. Was it possible Harkin had been there when they'd made their deal? It would make sense; why would a former C-Sec agent be in a drug den unless he was involved with them as well? The man couldn't have been running an investigation if he was suspended, and even if he had been, he would have intervened on the spot, with his quarry caught red-handed. No, the disgraced officer had something else in mind - blackmail.

Ayuda rubbed the bridge of his flat nose in frustration. All he'd wanted was some relief from the crippling pain that had begun to rule his life, yet here he was, caught up in another petty feud that had the potential to ruin his future. It was as if some greater power wanted to prevent him from being happy.

_Except I only have myself to blame this time_, he thought silently. He sighed and threw a guilty glance at the woman resting quietly in the seat beside him. _At least one of use has a clear conscience…_

His hand moved subconsciously to brush a strand of hair from Shanxi's face as he considered the scene back at the restaurant. He'd never seen her upset before. She'd been ruffled by his comments in the elevator the previous day, but not hurt - not angry. This confrontation with Harkin had been different. Whereas his own pestering had only been meant to fluster, the human's words had been meant to wound, and judging by Shanxi's abnormally volatile reaction, that's exactly what they did. Ayuda's face softened with sympathy as he carefully arranged her curls. He'd finally gotten a glimpse of what life must be like for her, unable to keep up with the asari and unaccepted by her own because of her association with them. It was a no-win situation. Her world was reduced to survival mode, and she to a quiet, obedient officer that could never quite connect.

The uncomfortable, vulnerable feeling he'd felt in the arcade came creeping back into his gut, and he put an arm around Shanxi's shoulder as if to protect her from some unseen yet inevitable injury.

He continued to ponder her situation silently until he spotted an off-colored area on her scalp. After gently parting her hair to get a better look, he realized it was scar. _From her biopsy, _he reasoned. Unlike the obvious trauma of his own wounds, Shanxi's cut had been small and precise, almost invisible if it weren't for the way the pale skin contrasted against her dark hair. Checking her face to make sure he wasn't disturbing her rest, he ran his thumb over the scar, and found it raised only slightly off her healthy skin. The surgeons responsible for her biopsy had done a good job cleaning up after themselves. He wondered if the hole in the woman's heart would ever be as cleanly patched.

As the shuttle came upon the passenger platform, it braked so suddenly that Shanxi would have slipped from her seat if not for Ayuda's quick reflexes. He tightened his grip on her shoulder defensively, causing her to wake with a start. She glanced around bewilderedly for a moment, but relaxed as soon as she saw the turian's face. Ayuda couldn't help but smile at the blush of embarrassment that colored her cheeks. He wondered if all humans had such tell-tale expressions.

"How long was I asleep?" she asked with a yawn.

"Just long enough I'd say," he replied as he gestured out the window, "This is our stop."

Ayuda gave his partner a hand as she rose on shaky legs and stepped out into the aisle to exit. Once she'd gotten her feet, he turned around and grabbed what was left of their dinner.

"I didn't mean to fall asleep on you like that," Shanxi apologized as they continued to the barracks on foot, "I guess next time I make plans for the evening I should keep a better track of the time."

Ayuda shrugged, "It's been a long day. Besides, this is the Citadel…time doesn't seem to matter much here."

"It does when you have to meet a Spectre in the morning," she quipped back.

"Good point," he agreed thoughtfully. They walked along in silence for a ways before he spoke again. "You know, we had one of them back on my cruiser once. A turian named Saren. We were only acting as escort so he wasn't with us for long, but that man was bad news."

"What was it like for you?" Shanxi asked curiously.

"Working with a Spectre?"

"No," she replied with a laugh, "Being in the military."

He snorted.

"Boring. The turian fleet is so large that few people cause trouble in our end of space," he explained, "Actual combat scenarios have been few and far between since the Relay 314 Incident. I think I spent more time sitting on my ass than I ever did fighting."

"Somehow I doubt you got an injury like the one on your leg from sitting on your ass," Shanxi observed with a clever grin. Ayuda chuckled and turned to face her as they walked.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I must sound really bitter. Suffice it to say, I joined the military more out of cultural habit than any real desire to be there. I served for six years, and I don't feel anymore fulfilled now than I did on induction day."

"Do you like it any better here at C-sec?"

"I didn't at first," he admitted, "Patrolling the Presidium for the rest of my days would be an even bigger bore than the military, but now that I've seen how investigators work, I think I might settle in. With a little help of course…"

"Of course," she replied with a smile, "We're partners now, and I know my history may not inspire much confidence, but I want you to feel like you can rely on me."

Ayuda's face contorted as he tried to choke back the wave of guilt that washed over him. Stabs of dread struck at his heart as he imagined what her reaction would be if she ever discovered that he'd not only broken the law she'd sworn to uphold, but that he'd lied to her about it. Even worse, how could _she_ rely on _him_ when he relied on painkillers? If this _was_ a partnership, then his weakness was her weakness, and that was unacceptable. Turian men supported their women, not the other way around.

_But she's not a turian, and she's certainly not yours_, his conscience criticized.

"Ayuda?" Shanxi cut in with concern.

"I'm fine," he said as he shoved the uncomfortable thoughts aside, "You don't have anything to prove to me Shanxi. I believe you are a good officer and that what happened to your partner wasn't your fault. You've already been far more tolerant of my moods than is warranted, and if one of us has something to make up for, it's me."

When they made it back to the barracks, Ayuda escorted Shanxi to her room. He waited patiently while she dug her pass card out of her pocket. When she brought it forth, an enclosed OSD slipped from her pocket as well. As he bent to pick it up, Ayuda realized it was the disk Devaki had given him.

"If you haven't gotten a chance to look at this yet you probably should," he told her, "Devaki made it seem like it was pretty important. She said you'd have questions only she could answer."

"Really?" Shanxi asked as she took back the disk and opened her airlock door, "We can pop it in now I guess."

The turian followed her into her room and laid her leftover food on the desk while she booted her computer. As the system loaded on the screen, Ayuda noticed a small photo tucked under a fancy glass paperweight. The paperweight was a globe of green and blue streaked with wisps of white, and the photo was of Devaki, with a soft pink person cradled in her arms. It was the picture from the frame he'd shattered the night before, and the asaris blanket-wrapped bundle was Shanxi.

"It's Earth," she said suddenly.

Ayuda glanced at her in confusion before she reached over and grabbed the glass globe.

"Vahe gave it to me," she continued, "Despite being born and raised on a ship, he has a great love for the natural world. I guess we both do, even though my travels have been limited to the imagination."

"Kindred spirits?" the turian asked with a smile.

"Maybe," she laughed.

As soon as the computer's interface appeared, Shanxi put the disc into the appropriate slot and opened her media manager. She glanced at the disk's information and shrugged.

"It's a video. All there is is a year," Shanxi said, "2158 CE."

"The year after the war," Ayuda noted with interest.

"The year I was born," she added.

Ayuda drew closer as his partner started the vid player anxiously. A blank black screen flickered for a few frames before finally fading into the image of a human woman with dark hair. She was propped up in a bed of some sort and everything but her head and arms was hidden under layers of white sheets. An IV tube stuck out of her right limb, and her pale hands picked at themselves nervously. The women looked off camera for a moment and gave a nod before turning back and taking a visible swallow. Even Ayuda could recognize something familiar, and he turned to Shanxi in time to see her lift her hand to her face in shock.

"That's my mother…"

.oO-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oo.

Executor Pallin wasted no time getting the contaminated hangar clear of occupants; while the hangar manager gathered his staff for evacuation, the turian had the control tower patch him to a patrolling C-Sec cruiser. Four empty frigates were lined up in the docking bay before the salarian scientists even finished packing.

As panicked employees began filing into the loading zone, Pallin stationed the handful of officers that had responded with haz-mat outside the ships to keep order. Within minutes they had four single-file lines formed and a headcount being tallied. The Executor nodded in satisfaction from the bay's overlook platform. So far things were under control; the hangar could be sealed and the Red Admiral destroyed, but there was no easy fix for a hysterical mob.

"What should we do with them, Sir?" a subordinate officer asked from where he stood by his superior.

"Once you're back on the Citadel have them rounded up at the Academy," the Executor instructed, "Put a gag order on the manager and explain to the others that the evacuation was necessary due to concerns over the hangar's hull integrity."

"And if they ask what we're doing to fix it?"

"Tell them C-Sec is still trying to pinpoint the cause of the damage. We will release further details as they come up."

The younger officer nodded and turned on his heel to carry out his orders as Pallin tightened his grip on the platform's railing. Neither the workers nor the press would like the vague answers offered by C-Sec in response to shutting down the hangar, and he knew it was only a matter of time until one of the sharper ones would start to suspect the truth. He sighed and shook his head. Uncovering the traitor who'd allowed the organism from colony 2-9 to escape would have to wait. Right now he needed to determine who Huit was working for and where they'd managed to get a sample of the dangerous organism. He needed the certainty that no more of it would reach the Citadel, or anywhere else in lawful space. He needed answers of his own, and only a single salarian could lead him to them.

.oO-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oo.

Citadel detainment ships were a curious mix of asari psychology and turian utilitarianism. Though it might not be apparent at first glance, they were subtly designed to affect the mental state of the prisoners inside. Each sound-proof, single-cell room served to reinforce physical and social isolation, while the stainless steel surfaces lent a bleak, cold feeling that made it impossible to get comfortable. Except for the constant pacing of the guards and the occasional newcomer, the cell blocks were silent. It was a silence that crushed the will and withered resistance. Life in a Citadel prison ship was life in limbo; even ex-officer Huit's feverish salarian sentience found it demoralizing.

He'd barely been there a day, and already he'd given up trying to interact with the stoic turian guardsmen. They were too diligent in their jobs and too well trained to fall for stupid ploys to get their attention. Only illness or injury would convince them to deviate from their strict schedule, and an elaborate monitoring system made faking either of those almost impossible. After his failed attempts, he resorted to the calming affect of crunching numbers, and he started by trying to formulate how long he would live once his 'employer' found out he'd been caught.

He'd almost arrived at an answer when the door to his cell slid open to reveal a variable he'd somehow forgotten about - Executor Pallin.

The turian stood a few feet from the doorway flanked by two of the ship's guards. When the man caught sight of Huit his blue eyes narrowed. In a calm but deadly voice that only a turian veteran could manage, he spoke two worrisome words, "Bring him."


	21. Chapter 21

**Author's Notes: **So, I wasn't going to continue posting the story here, but rather on my LJ due to...issues, but I've had a lot of PMs asking about it and I don't feel it's fair to punish the whole for a couple peoples bad behavior. So here you go. Grab your tissues, this chapter is kinda sad... Also, I haven't done a full re-read so if you spot errors please let me know. - Rembot

**One Eye Open - Chapter Twenty-One**

"Hello, Shanxi."

Ayuda stood by with silent discomfort as he watched the simple words take their toll on his human partner. Something fluttered behind her eyes as long-lost memories came rushing to the surface. Half-formed queries danced unspoken across her lips, and her hands clenched worriedly at her sides. The turian put a supportive hand on her shoulder in concern, but her expression remained unchanged. She stood transfixed by the recording, unable to register anything but her absent mother's final message. A shiver ran through her body as the woman onscreen continued.

"If you are watching this, then you've beaten the odds," she said with a weak smile and eyes that shone with unshed tears, "You have done what I cannot, and it is my sincerest hope that you are as much a blessing to the lives of others as you have been to mine."

The pale woman paused and swallowed as she gathered her thoughts. Shanxi used the delay to step away from Ayuda and take the chair in front of her computer for a better view.

"The doctors say that I don't have much time, so I have asked to have this video made that you will have some memory of me. It's funny, I've been waiting all week to record this and now I don't know what to say. There are so many things a mother should share with her daughter, and I don't even know where to begin…"

The woman paused again and licked her chapped lips. Someone off screen handed her a cup of water, and Shanxi sputtered at the blue-skinned limbs.

"Devaki!" she exclaimed, "She was there! At the hospital…"

The woman on screen took a few sips and sat the cup on a tray in front of her.

"Things were not going well for me before I got pregnant, Shanxi, " she continued wearily, "I'd separated from your father and was trying to get as far away from him as I could on what money I had when I first discovered you were with me. My life started turning around then. You gave me purpose, you gave me…hope."

"When the mass really was discovered, it gave people hope, too. There was a lot of speculation as to what it was for. There were even those who guessed its role in travel correctly, but who were unable to answer what we might find on the other side of it. As you must know, our tampering with it brought forth the first extraterrestial life form known to man - the turians."

"They surrounded the colony for which you are named, and brought with them technology we hadn't seen before. They would prove to be the unlikely ambassadors that eventually lead us here, to the Citadel, _to the heart of this galaxy… _While it must seem mundane to you, the Citadel is a wonder to me. To all of us. I believe this place and these people will help us, Shanxi. That they mean us well. That they can _save_ us. And that is why I jumped at the chance to bring you here. I wanted to give you all the hope you had given me. I hope I have not been a fool in this. I hope you are safe and happy. I hope you are not too lonely."

Shanxi's mother began to cough, and Devaki's hands appeared again to smooth the woman's hair and readjust her sitting position. Once the woman was comfortable she continued, but this time she didn't have the strength to face the camera. Ayuda glanced over to his partner's face and could see the woman's pain reflected in her eyes. He fidgeted uncomfortably but didn't dare interrupt the video.

"The representatives for Earth assure me that they are in talks to form an embassy here, and have already secured protection from the alien body known as the Council. There are many people forming plans to help integrate us into society, and programs being formed to help victims of ezzo exposure. The asari know much about the element and the dangers it presents. They are working with the doctors here to find a way to cure you and others like you."

The woman blinked her eyes and let a tear roll down her face. "It's too late for me."

"I have been cared for here by an asari named Devaki Tenari. I have made arrangements with her to see to it that you are looked after and cared for in my absence. I do not know what the future will bring for you. - things have changed so much, are _still_ changing - but I believe that she will be there to guide you and shield you in my stead. You can trust her with your life, Shanxi, as I have trusted mine. She has done all she can for me, I have asked her to turn her attention to you."

"I want you to go on. I want you to have all the opportunities that were unavailable to me. I want you to see these new people as your allies and your friends, not as enemies or strangers. I want you to…remember me. I want you to know that I love you with all my heart, and that I did not abandon you. You have been my gateway to a better future. You are my Shanxi. And I…" the woman's face broke and she covered her face with her hands, "I miss you already."

Shanxi jumped up as the feed cut out, pushing buttons on her keyboard in a panic.

"That's can be all there is!" she protested as Ayuda tried to grab at her flailing limbs, "Something's missing! She's not gone! She's not!"

Her movements slowed in exhaustion and sorrow, allowing the turian to wrap her in his arms protectively. He lifted his chin over the top of her curled head as she sobbed into the curve of his neck.

"She's not…gone."

.oO-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oo.

Devaki cleared her throat and kept her poise in check as she strode towards the consulate's chambers. She gently probed the surface thoughts of the commandos in her wake as she did so, and was rewarded with feelings of concern. Apparently, her escorts had already picked up on their mistress's minute distress. The Matron tried to channel a sense of calm as she focused on the sound of their footsteps echoing down the unfurnished expanse. She had hand-picked her personnel that morning, hoping that their experience and professionalism would be enough to resolve any disputes that might arise during her visit. This would not be her first encounter with the turian councilor, though her intuition warned it would be her most difficult.

The turian guards flanking the entryway ignored the group as they passed. They stood still as if inanimate, staring straight ahead with their sharp, predatory eyes. Devaki returned their treatment and fought back the tension that was rising in her gut. Perhaps the guards _meant_ to make the asari feel insignificant, or perhaps they were simply behaving as ordered. Turian soldiers tended towards a strict aloofness than even the Matron's mind probing had difficulty deciphering. She cleared her throat once more as they drew close to the consulate's doorway.

"We're right outside if you need us Matron," an escort spoke up softly as Devaki prepared to enter. The Matron favored the younger asari with a smile and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"I know, Bela," she said warmly, "I will try to make this meeting as quick as possible."

Bela seemed relieved and bowed her head respectfully; the second escort followed suit. Both watched reluctantly as the airlock doors separated them from their mistress.

.oO-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oo.

A uniformed turian greeted Devaki with a nod of his head before leading her to an office at the back of the consulate. Like his brethren outside, he remained perfectly silent and paid her as little attention as possible. She excused his behavior as far as the office, where she discovered the chair behind the desk was empty. Her brow furrowed and her lips pursed, but she kept her voice courteous upon addressing her escort. She'd expected tactics like this.

"I was under the impression that Councilor Tokar was expecting me," she said smoothly while eyeing the turian with her uncomfortable, seven-century stare, "Tell your superior I will return when he ceases playing games and wasting my time."

She lifted the hem of her dress so as not to trip and headed back towards the entrance in aggravation. To her surprise, the turian guardsman blocked her path without hesitation. Her blue eyes snapped up and flashed at him in warning until a rich baritone from somewhere over her shoulder broke the mounting tension.

"Sit down, Devaki."

The asari took a breath and turned stiffly. A regal-looking turian outfitted in a buffed, dark hard suit strode calmly towards the desk and took a seat. Symbols of his office stood out brightly against his suits black surface, much as his brilliant white facial markings did against his thick skin. He shuffled some papers there and gave his guard a dismissal before gesturing towards the available chairs in front of him.

"Sit down," he repeated, facing her this time.

After a short standoff, the Matron relaxed her posture and walked as gracefully as possible to a chair. She swept her long, lavender skirt out and folded her hands in her lap before speaking. Instead of allowing herself to be distracted by the councilor's demanding tone, she decided to get straight to the point.

"I've come on behalf on a young man," she said crisply, "A turian soldier named Ayudasesha Dresthi."

She paused, expecting an outburst from the councilor upon hearing the name, but the turian across from her merely raised an eyeridge, signaling for her to continue.

"He came to see me yesterday with some disturbing accusations concerning a turian officer he'd served with before his discharge. During an examination, he presented me with vivid memories of skirmish gone wrong. He claims his team was mislead, that this officer in question withheld vital information about what they would be facing, resulting in the deaths of several turian soldiers. Ayudasesha believes that the advising officer lead them into the situation intentionally, fully aware of what the outcome would be. I am here to request an investigation into this officer and his actions at the Tersius outpost. I've already forwarded you the file with his name and last-known squad information."

The turian councilor absorbed her information passively, his face like stone. Devaki waited as he mulled it over in his head until finally receiving the reaction she'd expected.

"It's not unheard of for disgruntled discharges to make accusations against their former superiors, Devaki," he said without much concern, "Besides, even if this actually occurred, it would be difficult to prove."

"I have Ayuda's memories," the Matron argued. "Of his team's briefing, their battle and their disastrous defeat. The biotics present in number during the combat are suspiciously absent from the intelligence they were given beforehand."

"But you still have to prove that the officer briefing them didn't know that biotics would be part of the threat," the councilor debated logically, "That's a difficult case to make, Matron, and it's not a call that you or I are in any position to make. Neither of us was present at that outpost."

Devaki scowled and let a touch of acid creep into her normally pleasant voice. "I'd ask you to interview those who were there, but as I said, most of them are dead."

The turian councilor rose from his seat sharply and planted his hands on his desks forcefully.

"Don't start with me, Devaki," he hissed back, "Your bleeding heart is no justification for disciplinary action. Those men were soldiers. Sometimes soldiers die. I don't like seeing good men lose their lives anymore than you do, but if the Hierarchy goes pointing fingers and placing blame every time a squad loses a skirmish, we'd have no more military might left!"

The councilor rose up to his feet and rubbed his temples wearily. "Asari memories and mind-tricks only go so far with the rest of us," he said in an obvious effort to recover some civility, "If you want an investigation, you need to bring me something I can use. Something solid."

Devaki's mind worked. She could tell the councilor was closing the door on her, and for Ayuda's sake, she couldn't let that happen. As much as she feared the councilor's response, she was going to have to fall back on better times.

"Why are you doing this Tokar?" she asked quietly, "You know I wouldn't have come to you if I didn't believe this young man's story. I'm not demanding the officer's termination, I'm only asking you to look into the matter. _Please_."

The councilor sighed and his head tilted to the side as he stared off into space a moment.

"I hate it when you do this you know," he replied absently, "You disappear for weeks, ignore my calls, my letters. You refuse to see or even speak to me, and then you show up here, because suddenly you want something." He turned to face her, hazel eyes betraying a hint of pain. "But what about what I want?"

Devaki swallowed and smoothed her dress anxiously.

"I know I've hurt you," she said softly, eyes lowered, "I worry for your position, for what you risk by associating with me."

The asari was surprised when he walked over to her and invited her to stand by him. She could still feel the old, familiar spark where their hands touched. "It is my risk to take," he answered.

Devaki shuddered as he ran his hands up her sides to her throat. He drew their faces close until she could feel his breath. He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers, sending waves of emotion crashing down on her consciousness. The Matron had almost lost herself in the feel of his rough palms against her tender neck when he whispered two heart-wrenching words to her.

"Get out."

Devaki's throat constricted at the finality of the icy command. Her body shuddered violently as sensations of pleasure shifted to pain and embarrassment. Her former lover withdrew from their embrace and let her hands drop carelessly. They felt like lead weights at her sides. Her eyes pricked with hot tears which quickly spilled over her high-cheekbones to collect at the point of her fine chin. She didn't even try to speak; she knew in her ancient heart that only a forlorn cry would escape her. She watched dumbly as Tokar returned to his desk and pressed a call button for an escort. When he arrived, Tokar instructed him hotly.

"Show Matron Tenari outside," he said, "I don't ever want to see her again."


	22. Chapter 22

**Author's Notes: **Hell no, we're not done yet! Haha. I know I've been gone a long time and this chapter is a bit rough, but the good news is I have the next few fairly plotted out and a new day is dawning and bringing the action with it! Shanxi and Ayuda's cases are going to start unfolding to their conclusions, and some of the things to look forward to include: Ayuda's heart-to-heart with a certain down-in-the-dumps turian general, a twist in what really happened to Shanxi's former partner, and Jacoby biting off more than he can chew.

Hope you enjoy! Sorry for the long delay, and welcome to all the folks who may be reading this for the first time!

**One Eye Open - Chapter 22**

"You going to be alright?" Ayuda asked as he exited into the hall outside Shanxi's barrack. He turned to face her for a reply and watched her shoulders slump in a shuddering sigh. She nodded silently and rubbed her arm before looking up at him with a pained smile.

"Yeah," she said weakly, "I just - I don't understand…"

The turian inclined his head sympathetically and waited patiently for her to continue.

"Why didn't Devaki show me this earlier? Why now?"

"Maybe she thought it would scare you," Ayuda offered thoughtfully, "Seeing your mother like that. You spent half your childhood fighting the same condition that took her life. Maybe Devaki wanted you to picture her differently, or maybe she thought that the more you knew about your mother the harder it would be for you to let her go."

Shanxi's hands dropped to her sides and she stared at him blankly. He could sense the struggle going on inside her, could feel her confusion, and he found that it hurt him, too.

"Did you know anything about her?" he continued gently, unnerved by her silence, "Other than what you've already told me?"

"No," she whispered finally as her eyes glazed over in recollection, "I mean, I knew her name and how she came here. I knew how she died. But I'd never even seen her face before…"

Ayuda could see fresh tears forming in his partner's eyes as she bowed her head again.

"That video must be all that's left of her now," she said in a cracked voice.

He put his hands on her shoulders as she covered her face with her hands and began to sob.

"You're left, Shanxi," he said, "And you've already fulfilled her greatest hope: you lived."

He gestured around them as he continued.

"You've become an officer at C-Sec. People respect you, rely on you - they trust you. You help people, like your mother wanted to help people by working towards a cure for ezzo exposure. She lives in you. You are her legacy, Shanxi. _You_ are. Can't you see that?"

The woman parted her hands and searched his face for sincerity.

"Everyone else does," he finished softly.

She stood so still and quiet that Ayuda was afraid his attempt at comfort was backfiring, but then her posture relaxed and she let out a sigh. It was rife with the release of all the ill-emotions that he'd seen battling behind her eyes. He stepped near to shield her from scrutiny as a fellow officer made his way down the hall.

"Thanks," she said as she tried to wipe the wetness from her reddened face. Her mouth formed a small, self-conscious smile as she pushed her loose hair behind her ears. "Last thing I need is more attention."

"You and me both," he said lightly, pleased by the gradual return of her usual demeanor, "I really acted stupidly at the restaurant earlier. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, and I'm sorry the hanar had to deal with the mess, but I'm not sorry I hit that guy."

"Harkin has that effect on people," Shanxi agreed, "But I still had a good time tonight, and I'm glad you were here. For the video, I mean."

"Really?" Ayuda asked as his eye ridges rose curiously, "Cause I feel like I never know what to say in these kind of situations. When I was young and my sister would get upset, I'd just make a face and she'd be all better again."

"Make a face?"

"Yeah, like this."

Ayuda flared his mandibles and Shanxi let out a laugh. He chuckled, too.

"Our women can't do that you know," he said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah? Interesting. Is it part of a mating ritual or something?"

Ayuda deadpanned for a few surprised seconds before bursting into raucous laughter. The woman's grin spread ear-to-ear at the sound as it chased away the last of her evening's melancholy.

"What?!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms wide in innocence, "I'm just curious!"

The turian tried to recover himself and pointed an accusing finger at her.

"Wait, wait," he protested, "I know what this is - it's payback for the elevator!"

"I didn't mean it like that and you know it!"

"Do I now?" he goaded.

"Ayuda!" she groaned, face flushed in embarrassment. His laughter died away slowly and he stood straight again to regard her with a warm gaze.

"The answer to your question is no," he said honestly, "It's not part of any turian courtship, but if you would like to learn…"

Shanxi gave him a warning swat on the arm that made him laugh again.

"Alright, alright," he surrendered, "I suppose that's enough for one night. Are we sufficiently cheered up, now?"

"Yes," she said, brown eyes clear and bright once more, "But I think I will visit Devaki tomorrow if I have the time. To help me make sense of things…"

"She thought that would be best," he replied with a nod, "And so do I. Some sleep will help, too, I think. It usually does for me."

"Thanks Ayuda," Shanxi said, her voice wavering slightly, "Chellick is sending you out tomorrow, right? Please be careful."

"I'll do my best," he promised, "I know how important it is to find out where those amps are coming from. The sooner we shut them down the less of a risk that someone will be getting a bad implant. I'll do what I can to the narrow search for you and the Spectre."

The partners said their goodbyes and Ayuda made his way back to his room. He reflected on how his trek across the barracks the night before had been a disaster, and how tonight he hadn't wanted to make the journey. His mind kept drifting back to the instance at the VR arcade, and how it felt when he and Shanxi touched. It was pleasant although foreign, and it excited him. The way she smiled and said his name excited him, too. It was freeing to be around someone as unassuming as his partner; someone so unlike his own rigid people. He felt like he could breathe for the first in his life, and he wanted to take in everything Shanxi showed him. He reached his airlock door hoping that the night's adventure was only the first of many more to come.

.oO-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oo.

Once inside his barrack, Ayuda wasted no time removing his cowl and over-worn hard suit. It was late, he was drained, and sleep had proven to be elusive the night before. He suspected tonight would be different though - that he'd be asleep as soon as his spiked head hit the hard, C-Sec issued pillow.

After stripping off his top half and putting the gear away, he walked into the bathroom to replace the wrap on his injured hand, as well as reapply Devaki's miracle salve. As he rubbed it into his thigh he looked up into the mirror before him. He mimicked the face he'd made at Shanxi earlier and laughed to himself.

_Mating ritual_, his mind repeated with a measure of mirth.

What an odd idea. If anything, courtship was the one aspect of turian culture that lacked any real formality. Most turians thought of partnership and marriage as a practicality; as a way to continue their families and help turian society prosper. It was just another form of obligation to the Hierarchy, albeit an unspoken one. While his people were free to marry as they chose, a long-understood rule promoted pairing between 'respectable' families of similar status - clans that could mutually benefit from the bond. Some of the more adventurous youth managed to find love - both within their race and without - but most settled with convenience and clan approval. As many were soldiers, they didn't see their wives for more than a few months out of the year anyway.

Ayuda's mandibles flattened against his face as he thought. At least his unhappy sister got some reprieve…

He turned away from the mirror and took a towel from the rack behind him. As he scrubbed his face paint off for the night, he pondered the moves that made up the ritualistic dance of romance he'd seen amongst the galaxy's other races. Before he could finish rinsing out the dirtied towel, a pinging sound from his computer drew his attention. His eyeridges pinched in confusion at the thought of who might be trying to reach him so late. Hoping against hope that it might be someone from back on Palaven, he strode into the bedroom and checked the screen anxiously. An alert box had popped up with an incoming message feed. The name of the sender both calmed and exited him.

_Tenari, Devaki_

Ayuda hastily took his seat and opened the connection. When the Matron's face appeared, she was wearing an expression that made his stomach roil uncomfortably. Something as wrong. Taking a deep breath, he bowed his head in respect and braced himself for what she whatever she had to say.

"Matron," he greeted her.

"Hello, Ayuda," she replied with a return nod. Her brow knit and her lips pursed slightly before she continued. "Is this a bad time?"

"Oh, um," the turian muttered self-consciously as he glanced down at his bare-chest, "No, its fine. I was just getting ready for bed." He paused a weary moment before continuing blandly, "You have some bad news for me don't you?"

Devaki's face fell in sympathy and her lips parted to protest, but she recovered her composure quickly. "I'm sorry, Ayuda," she apologized softly.

"What happened?"

"Councilor Tokar has denied my request for an investigation into the events at Tersius outpost. He refuses to act without further evidence of your superior's negligence," she explained as she focused her gaze in concentration, "Think, Ayuda. Can you recall any other events where he may have acted unethically or without authority?"

Ayuda sighed and rested his head in his hands upon the desks cold surface. His bright eyes darted rapidly as he sifted through the monotonous memories of his military service. Looking back at it all, he realized just how easy the chain of command would be for someone like his sister's husband to manipulate. Something was wrong when soldiers no longer questioned their orders. He shook his head at last and nearly moaned in despair at the futility of the request. Anything he could come up with would still be his word against another's. He needed service records, postings, the names of squad members. He needed to reach his sister. He needed -

The turian stiffened. "Someone to break the firewall…"

"Ayuda?" Devaki questioned at his unexpected response. She watched him shift in his seat and reach for his omni-tool excitedly.

"My father blocked my access to my sister when he sent me here," Ayuda explained hurriedly, "I haven't been able to get in touch with her or the cruiser captains I served with since. I've been able to talk to a few of the soldiers I served with though, and while I can no longer access the ship logs, they can. I might be able to convince one of them to send us some information, but I'll need Tova's help. She could provide us cover by requesting the intel in her husband's name then forwarding it to me. I just need to convince her and let her know what's happening here. To do that, I need someone to break the firewall."

"How will you do that?" the asari asked, her eyes ablaze with questions.

"I won't. I can't. Believe me, I've tried," Ayuda replied smartly, "I'll need the quarian to do it."

Devaki's face cleared and she nodded in understanding. "Vahe'Kesh," she whispered.

"You know him?" the turian asked in mild surprise.

"I do. He has been a source of friendship and inspiration for Shanxi since his arrival on the Citadel. I worry for him often. And for her. His passing will break her heart."

"Do you think he'd be willing to do this? If anyone here can it's him."

"Possibly," Devaki said as the corners of her mouth turned down, "But I dislike drawing him into this. Vahe has little time left in this world, and I would hate for him to put himself at greater risk."

She thought silently for a moment. "Still, the decision is his, and there may be no other way if we are to help you, Ayuda. I fear my involvement may have only made things worse for you…"

"What do you mean?"

The woman looked away from the screen and fiddled with her hands in her lap.

"It is a long story," she said, "Suffice it to say, I once loved Councilor Tokar. But I loved Shanxi's mother more."

Ayuda's eyeridges lifted in comprehension. The asari's presence in the video of Shanxi's mother and subsequent role as guardian to her only daughter suddenly made sense. A thousand questions began storming around in his head.

"You mean, she-" he struggled for words, "You were lovers?"

Devaki nodded.

"But you're not Shanxi's parent," he reasoned, "Biologically speaking."

A small smile eased onto her face.

"No, I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. Rebecca was already with Shanxi when they arrived here. I have always been honest with her about that."

Ayuda sat dumbfounded, a small inkling of indignation creeping up on him.

"So why haven't you been honest about everything?" he blurted a tad harshly, "Why did you wait until now to give Shanxi that recording?"

"She's seen it?" Devaki's voice wavered.

"We both have. I just got back here from her place where we watched it together."

"How is she?"

"How do you think she is? She's hurt, and confused, and lonely. She doesn't understand why you've kept this from her for so long, and despite trying to convince her otherwise, I'm not sure I do either."

Devaki could hear the unspoken accusation in his voice, and she was prepared for it. At least she thought she was.

"My relationship with Shanxi's mother was frowned upon for reasons that should be obvious," she defended, "My adoption of Shanxi even more so. She had enough difficulties to face without needing to know about the pain and social stigma Rebecca and I suffered during her last days. I did not want our daughter to know that prejudice."

"So you decided to hide it from her?" Ayuda argued, "Like it's something to ashamed of? What does that teach her?"

The asari simply stared at the screen silently, and Ayuda shook his head.

"You might want to think about how you want to answer that, Matron," he said as he recovered his calm, "Because I don't think Shanxi's going to accept your silence. Not anymore."


End file.
